Monday, January 5, 2009
Beginnings and Ends
Today was the end of our every week visits to the eye doctor and the beginning of every two weeks visits. Her ROP has gotten better in her right eye...he mentioned that there was a significant difference between what he saw last week and what it was today. MUCH BETTER! Praise the Lord and thank you for all your prayers and well wishes! There is no sign of the disease at all in her left eye so we are over the halfway point...
It was also the END of the "5 pound, ___ ounces" era and the beginning of the 6 pound baby! Bree weighed exactly 6 pounds 0.5 ounces this morning when the nurse came to visit.
For Riley, it was the end of just giving her an 'unclicked' pen to play with and to trick her into pretend coloring. This morning when the state worker was here enrolling Bree into the Birth to Three program I had given Riley an unclicked pen to keep her entertained. Next thing I know I hear...click, click, click, click..and then she is writing on her shirt! AH! The age of discovery is a wonderous thing...
For me, it was the end of pumping and the beginning of safety for my family. To all of you that may sound a little funky, but whenever I begin to pump Riley knows it is a free for all. She jumps on the couch, (and has fallen off a few times, narrowly missing the coffee table), goes and brings me things from the garbage (ew!), and journeys into her room to pull everything out of her dresser drawers, and then tries to climb into them. Not to mention, Bree seems to know when I am pumping as well and starts to wail almost every time! It is very stressful and not a great environment to pump in. I have been trying it for about a month and it is not possible, (or mentally safe), for me to continue.
For Adam, it is the end of loathing our old couches...and the beginning of new couch heaven for him. We had to get rid of our kitties because Bree was definetly allergic. Cat allergies coupled with poor lungs and a need for oxygen does not equal a happy kid (or happy parents). Each of our cats found a new home, so Adam was able to get the new furniture he wanted. (Tipsy was a furniture scratcher). As I am typing Adam is reclining on our loveseat, watching ESPN and feeding Bree...his eyes glazed over in comfort.
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
It was also the END of the "5 pound, ___ ounces" era and the beginning of the 6 pound baby! Bree weighed exactly 6 pounds 0.5 ounces this morning when the nurse came to visit.
For Riley, it was the end of just giving her an 'unclicked' pen to play with and to trick her into pretend coloring. This morning when the state worker was here enrolling Bree into the Birth to Three program I had given Riley an unclicked pen to keep her entertained. Next thing I know I hear...click, click, click, click..and then she is writing on her shirt! AH! The age of discovery is a wonderous thing...
For me, it was the end of pumping and the beginning of safety for my family. To all of you that may sound a little funky, but whenever I begin to pump Riley knows it is a free for all. She jumps on the couch, (and has fallen off a few times, narrowly missing the coffee table), goes and brings me things from the garbage (ew!), and journeys into her room to pull everything out of her dresser drawers, and then tries to climb into them. Not to mention, Bree seems to know when I am pumping as well and starts to wail almost every time! It is very stressful and not a great environment to pump in. I have been trying it for about a month and it is not possible, (or mentally safe), for me to continue.
For Adam, it is the end of loathing our old couches...and the beginning of new couch heaven for him. We had to get rid of our kitties because Bree was definetly allergic. Cat allergies coupled with poor lungs and a need for oxygen does not equal a happy kid (or happy parents). Each of our cats found a new home, so Adam was able to get the new furniture he wanted. (Tipsy was a furniture scratcher). As I am typing Adam is reclining on our loveseat, watching ESPN and feeding Bree...his eyes glazed over in comfort.
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Pulmonology appt
Yesterday, Bree had her pulmonology appt at PCH. Our good friend, Aleasha, watched Riley for us so that we could concentrate solely on Bree (HUGE thanks girl!)! We met with Dr. O'Hagan, and briefly talked about her oxygen needs and how she has been handling it. Our next conversation was about everything else going on with her: how she cries (loud!), how she eats, how her weight gain has been, and how she has been with peeing and pooping (eh...).
Dr. O'Hagan left the room to go round up our needed consultants after hearing all of our information. So, in came a nurse that was skilled with the oxygen and all those needs. She brought with her an oximeter, and we hooked Bree up and turned off her oxygen. Funny enough, Bree HATED having the oximeter on her foot! (Maybe she figured the past three months was enough to last her a lifetime!) She screamed, kicked and fussed so much that it was hard to get a good reading. No amount of shooshing, jostling, swinging or consoling could calm her down. After the test period, the nurse went to consult with Dr. O'Hagan about what his reccomendations will be.
Next came the dietician. Due to Bree's problems with gaining weight, we discussed all that she was getting. What it was, the frequency she was eating and how she does with burping and "urping". Bree was on a 27 calorie per ounce diet. It is breastmilk fortified with Enfamil Enfacare. The dietician put Bree on an additional fortifier which now makes her 'meals' 30 calories per ounce. The new 'adder inner' is called Duocal, and can only be purchased online. For right now, we have about a twenty day supply given to us. So Bree's cocktail is now 180 cc's (6 ounces) of breastmilk, four teaspoons of Enfacare, and a teaspoon and half of Duocal. We mix that all up and use it as needed for her feeds. We go through about two six ounce bottles every 24 hours. We now have to call and give the dietician Bree's weights after our nurse comes to the house so that her weight gain can be tracked. We need to see if this increase is going to help her gain weight, or if something else needs to be tried.
The pulmonology nurse came back in after the dietician visit and since Bree did pretty good with her test. She was able to keep her oxygen saturations above 85 even with the screaming and fussing (which is what they want to see). However, since Bree is having issues with gaining weight, they do not want to stress her body anymore than they need to so we are going to wait on weaning her off the oxygen for a few weeks. We are doing an overnight study on January 23rd. This consists of us hooking her up to oximeter when she goes to bed for the night and taking her off of her oxygen. For a good 6-8 hours, we will monitor her saturations. In the morning, the machine will be sent to PCH and they will pull all the data and it will take about a week for them to consult with everyone to be able to make the best move for Bree.
Time will tell what will happen and all we can do is trust God and pray!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Dr. O'Hagan left the room to go round up our needed consultants after hearing all of our information. So, in came a nurse that was skilled with the oxygen and all those needs. She brought with her an oximeter, and we hooked Bree up and turned off her oxygen. Funny enough, Bree HATED having the oximeter on her foot! (Maybe she figured the past three months was enough to last her a lifetime!) She screamed, kicked and fussed so much that it was hard to get a good reading. No amount of shooshing, jostling, swinging or consoling could calm her down. After the test period, the nurse went to consult with Dr. O'Hagan about what his reccomendations will be.
Next came the dietician. Due to Bree's problems with gaining weight, we discussed all that she was getting. What it was, the frequency she was eating and how she does with burping and "urping". Bree was on a 27 calorie per ounce diet. It is breastmilk fortified with Enfamil Enfacare. The dietician put Bree on an additional fortifier which now makes her 'meals' 30 calories per ounce. The new 'adder inner' is called Duocal, and can only be purchased online. For right now, we have about a twenty day supply given to us. So Bree's cocktail is now 180 cc's (6 ounces) of breastmilk, four teaspoons of Enfacare, and a teaspoon and half of Duocal. We mix that all up and use it as needed for her feeds. We go through about two six ounce bottles every 24 hours. We now have to call and give the dietician Bree's weights after our nurse comes to the house so that her weight gain can be tracked. We need to see if this increase is going to help her gain weight, or if something else needs to be tried.
The pulmonology nurse came back in after the dietician visit and since Bree did pretty good with her test. She was able to keep her oxygen saturations above 85 even with the screaming and fussing (which is what they want to see). However, since Bree is having issues with gaining weight, they do not want to stress her body anymore than they need to so we are going to wait on weaning her off the oxygen for a few weeks. We are doing an overnight study on January 23rd. This consists of us hooking her up to oximeter when she goes to bed for the night and taking her off of her oxygen. For a good 6-8 hours, we will monitor her saturations. In the morning, the machine will be sent to PCH and they will pull all the data and it will take about a week for them to consult with everyone to be able to make the best move for Bree.
Time will tell what will happen and all we can do is trust God and pray!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Little cutie Riley
So, I need to get these things written down before I forget! Riley has been doing some SUPER cute and amazing things this past week. I am sure you all will enjoy them just as much as I have:
1. "High chair? High chair?" Riley has exploded in language as of lately! She now says high chair, all done, Sissy (as in sister), baby, cookie...the list goes on and on.
2. She now gives Bree high fives. She lifts Bree's arm up, then lets go of it and gives her a quick high five while squealing in delight at the same time!
3. Today, I took Riley shopping with me and after parking in our parking spot I had to find my shopping list. The radio was still playing and on the song it was singing "Baby, baby, bayyybeeeee". Next thing you know I hear "Bay-bee, Bay-bee" coming from the backseat. I immediately said "Aww, are you singing?" (not expecting a response) "YUP!" says Riley emphatically...too cute!
4. Riley will run towards you with arms stretched out saying "HHHUUUUGGGG!" and then tackle you at full force. I am surprised I have not been knocked over yet!
5.This one is the best! Bree has her monitor that if the cord is stepped on, the wires become loose and make a very VERY loud screeching noise. Well, Riley stepped on it today and Adam came to rescue when the noise started. After it was fixed, Riley sat down in front of the monitor, and started lifting it up to look at it all the while repeating "Oh sh*t, Oh sh*t, CAP (crap), Oh no!"
Hope that put a smile on your face...I know it did ours!
1. "High chair? High chair?" Riley has exploded in language as of lately! She now says high chair, all done, Sissy (as in sister), baby, cookie...the list goes on and on.
2. She now gives Bree high fives. She lifts Bree's arm up, then lets go of it and gives her a quick high five while squealing in delight at the same time!
3. Today, I took Riley shopping with me and after parking in our parking spot I had to find my shopping list. The radio was still playing and on the song it was singing "Baby, baby, bayyybeeeee". Next thing you know I hear "Bay-bee, Bay-bee" coming from the backseat. I immediately said "Aww, are you singing?" (not expecting a response) "YUP!" says Riley emphatically...too cute!
4. Riley will run towards you with arms stretched out saying "HHHUUUUGGGG!" and then tackle you at full force. I am surprised I have not been knocked over yet!
5.This one is the best! Bree has her monitor that if the cord is stepped on, the wires become loose and make a very VERY loud screeching noise. Well, Riley stepped on it today and Adam came to rescue when the noise started. After it was fixed, Riley sat down in front of the monitor, and started lifting it up to look at it all the while repeating "Oh sh*t, Oh sh*t, CAP (crap), Oh no!"
Hope that put a smile on your face...I know it did ours!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Measurements, shots and poop
Both the girls had check ups today with their pediatrician, Dr. Pham. Oldest goes first!
Riley is 23 lbs and about 32'' tall. For weight she is in the 50th percentile and for height she is in the 75th to 80th. He is not at all worried that she is still using bottles and wants to wait a little bit before we start phasing them out since we are having so many changes in our family as of lately. This was the first dr. visit in a long time that during the exam she did not cry. She just sat there and looked at him as he listened to her heart, looked in her eyes and then looked in her ears. I was so proud! She did get her 15 month shots today, which there were three of them. After some tears and crying (and some snuggling with Mama) she was able to walk out of the office on her own steam.
Now onto Bree...she weighed 5 lbs 10 oz and that was only a weight gain of 4 ounces in two weeks. He would like to see her gain at least a half an ounce a day. Since he can't increase her calorie intake (she's already at the max) we are going to be watching her weight very closely. If she continues in this pattern we may be looking at having a feeding tube put in again. She was 19 inches long, and is doing pretty well in all other aspects.
We are having issues with her pooping (every parent's favorite topic of discussion). She is not doing it on her own for some reason. So we have been instructed to give her a suppository every three days. Right now, it has been five days and she has not gone since christmas. We know it is bothering her because she was up over half the night last night (and we were too!). So needless to say, I am exceptionally tired today. I never thought I would say this, but I am excited to give her a suppository today because it means that we will all get WONDERFUL blessed sleep tonight. (Hopefully Riley complies with this too!)
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Riley is 23 lbs and about 32'' tall. For weight she is in the 50th percentile and for height she is in the 75th to 80th. He is not at all worried that she is still using bottles and wants to wait a little bit before we start phasing them out since we are having so many changes in our family as of lately. This was the first dr. visit in a long time that during the exam she did not cry. She just sat there and looked at him as he listened to her heart, looked in her eyes and then looked in her ears. I was so proud! She did get her 15 month shots today, which there were three of them. After some tears and crying (and some snuggling with Mama) she was able to walk out of the office on her own steam.
Now onto Bree...she weighed 5 lbs 10 oz and that was only a weight gain of 4 ounces in two weeks. He would like to see her gain at least a half an ounce a day. Since he can't increase her calorie intake (she's already at the max) we are going to be watching her weight very closely. If she continues in this pattern we may be looking at having a feeding tube put in again. She was 19 inches long, and is doing pretty well in all other aspects.
We are having issues with her pooping (every parent's favorite topic of discussion). She is not doing it on her own for some reason. So we have been instructed to give her a suppository every three days. Right now, it has been five days and she has not gone since christmas. We know it is bothering her because she was up over half the night last night (and we were too!). So needless to say, I am exceptionally tired today. I never thought I would say this, but I am excited to give her a suppository today because it means that we will all get WONDERFUL blessed sleep tonight. (Hopefully Riley complies with this too!)
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Faith Motto
"Trust in God with all your heart
No matter what you do.
Lean on him during hard times
and He will see you through"
No matter what you do.
Lean on him during hard times
and He will see you through"
Eye, eye, eye!!!
So today we had another eye appt for Bree with Dr. Golub. He is the doctor who did her laser eye surgery for her ROP and we have a standing date with him every Monday. (Okay, so it's not really a "date") Bree's left eye is doing great and he said today that it looks as though there is a complete recession of the disease. Her right eye is a different story. There are some great parts that are healing, while there are other parts that have showed no change for the good or for the bad. There is also a slight retraction of her retina, which is the biggest concern. If it retracts any further, we will be sent to consult with a retina specialist and we will probably be having another surgery of some sort.
Let's all take the time to praise God for his goodness and faithfulness! We thank Him for all that He has done, and we ask that He continue to be with Bree and to help heal her right eye. We would like to avoid all surgeries, but if that's what He has in store for us we will take it and do our best!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Let's all take the time to praise God for his goodness and faithfulness! We thank Him for all that He has done, and we ask that He continue to be with Bree and to help heal her right eye. We would like to avoid all surgeries, but if that's what He has in store for us we will take it and do our best!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
First Smile
One momentous event for Bree occured on Christmas Eve. We were all getting ready to head off to church service to have Bree dedicated (which went great...and I will post pictures when I get them from our good friend!). Daddy was holding Bree while sitting in the recliner and Riley was standing next to them peeking at Bree. I happened to walk by and made some comment to Bree (I don't remember what it was), but she turned her head, looked at Riley and smiled. It was so precious that she gave her first "awake and aware" smile to her big sister. I can already tell that there is a special bond between these two and I can't wait to watch it grow and blossom over the years to come.
Hitching a Ride....
See...In our family, the women make the men ride on the back of the motorcycle. Rock on Riley!Poor Ethan looked a little scared about Riley's driving skills though...
Happy Birthday Jesus!
We all had a GREAT Christmas today! We all got everything that we had asked Santa for...even little Bree got lots of cool toys. :) As a family we all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus (cheesy I know, but it is important to me)....We hope that you and your family had a joyous and blessed day as well.
Home sweet home?
When I always thought of bringing Bree home from the NICU, I thought it would be so great to snuggle with her, help Riley interact with her, and it would be filled with bottles, dirty diapers and all that other fun "baby stuff".
SURPRISE! It is nothing like that....we have at least two doctor visits (pediatrican check ups, eye doctor, pulmonologists, etc) a week that are out of the house, two nurse visits where the nurse comes to the house to check her weight, height, head and abdomen circumferences, and then to address any concerns that we have.
Here's an example of how our next week looks: Today is Christmas (Thursday). Tomorrow we have the RN coming to the house at nine in the morning. On Monday the nurse will come out again in the morning and then we have an eye appt at two thirty to check on her ROP. Tuesday both girls go to the pediatrician: Bree for a two week check up, and Riley for her fifteen month appt. On Thursday the nurse comes out again. And then on Friday we have an appt at PCH (Phoenix Children's Hospital) at ten in the morning with the pulmonologists to evaluate her need for oxygen and to see how she is doing.
Somehow I am suppose to find the time to pump amidst all of that. I am a little embarassed to admit that my pumping has fallen to the wayside since she has come home. I pump in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening. I only get about 50-60 cc's each time. Luckily, we have a good stock of frozen breastmilk so we are doing half fresh, half frozen and then supplementing it with the formula to jump up the calories for her. I have ordered and am going to take an herbal supplement called Fenugreek to help boost my milk production. I had it recommended to me by one of the nurses at PCH so I hope it works. I was reading some of the side effects of it and it seems a little iffy. However, even with regular medicine (benadryl, tylenol, etc) there are some wierdo side effects so hopefully none of them from the Fenugreek will affect me.
As of Tuesday, Bree weighs 5 lbs, 12 ounces! Woo hoo! We are almost at the six pound mark !!!!! Yee hee!
Hope that this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
SURPRISE! It is nothing like that....we have at least two doctor visits (pediatrican check ups, eye doctor, pulmonologists, etc) a week that are out of the house, two nurse visits where the nurse comes to the house to check her weight, height, head and abdomen circumferences, and then to address any concerns that we have.
Here's an example of how our next week looks: Today is Christmas (Thursday). Tomorrow we have the RN coming to the house at nine in the morning. On Monday the nurse will come out again in the morning and then we have an eye appt at two thirty to check on her ROP. Tuesday both girls go to the pediatrician: Bree for a two week check up, and Riley for her fifteen month appt. On Thursday the nurse comes out again. And then on Friday we have an appt at PCH (Phoenix Children's Hospital) at ten in the morning with the pulmonologists to evaluate her need for oxygen and to see how she is doing.
Somehow I am suppose to find the time to pump amidst all of that. I am a little embarassed to admit that my pumping has fallen to the wayside since she has come home. I pump in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening. I only get about 50-60 cc's each time. Luckily, we have a good stock of frozen breastmilk so we are doing half fresh, half frozen and then supplementing it with the formula to jump up the calories for her. I have ordered and am going to take an herbal supplement called Fenugreek to help boost my milk production. I had it recommended to me by one of the nurses at PCH so I hope it works. I was reading some of the side effects of it and it seems a little iffy. However, even with regular medicine (benadryl, tylenol, etc) there are some wierdo side effects so hopefully none of them from the Fenugreek will affect me.
As of Tuesday, Bree weighs 5 lbs, 12 ounces! Woo hoo! We are almost at the six pound mark !!!!! Yee hee!
Hope that this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Early Christmas Present
With Adam's Mom here for a little visit we decided that we would each open one gift while she was here (each of which she either helped with or is going to). I tricked Adam by filling a large box we had with "stuff" (random things to make the box heavy), put a blanket on top of that stuff and put two small slips of paper on it with the tattoo's that he wants of the girls names. Before he opened it I asked him what he thought was in it, his answer was perfect..."I don't know, a bunch of crap? Ha ha ha!" He was right on the money!
Adam gave me a shoe box with a "certificate" for any type of shoe that I wanted. So I get to go shoe shopping after christmas! Woo hoo!
Bree didn't open any because, well, she can't. We didn't wrap any of her presents because as we learned last year, she'll get gifts that are wrapped from family so there is no point in us wrapping presents ourselves to unwrap them ourselves...
Riley ended up with a motorcycle...a crotch rocket to be exact. Seriously, she did. She loved it and enjoys being pushed on it so much! We even have the pictures to prove it:
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Adam gave me a shoe box with a "certificate" for any type of shoe that I wanted. So I get to go shoe shopping after christmas! Woo hoo!
Bree didn't open any because, well, she can't. We didn't wrap any of her presents because as we learned last year, she'll get gifts that are wrapped from family so there is no point in us wrapping presents ourselves to unwrap them ourselves...
Riley ended up with a motorcycle...a crotch rocket to be exact. Seriously, she did. She loved it and enjoys being pushed on it so much! We even have the pictures to prove it:
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!Friday, December 19, 2008
First Family Photos as Four
Whew! Say that ten times fast! Ha ha...so today, with the help of Adam's Mama, we made the trek to Sears to have our annual "Christmas time" family photos done. They went, well, as good as they could with a newborn with acid reflux that spits up anytime you move her, and a toddler that gets stage fright in portrait studios. We only got four pictures out of Riley, (two of which were accidental). Riley proceeded to pull out all of her tantrum tricks, which include: screaming, flailing, hitting anyone within reach (including trying to hit Bree), and all out Mama-clinginess. Needless to say, we are hoping that she'll do a bit better next time.
Bree did better than her big sister did! We were so careful to dress the girls right before we left the house and we put a bib on Bree so that if she spit up it would go on that and not the dress. Well, lo and behold, we whipped her bib off about ten seconds before the first picture was taken and Bleh...that's right, all over the dress. Luckily, she was dressed in an off-white dress which perfectly matched her spit up...one quick wipe and you never knew she spit up in the first place.
Today was the first, and last time, Bree will go out of the house to a public place (the exception being doctor visits). We had a great time...and we love the pictures that we got because they all tell a story of our family!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Bree did better than her big sister did! We were so careful to dress the girls right before we left the house and we put a bib on Bree so that if she spit up it would go on that and not the dress. Well, lo and behold, we whipped her bib off about ten seconds before the first picture was taken and Bleh...that's right, all over the dress. Luckily, she was dressed in an off-white dress which perfectly matched her spit up...one quick wipe and you never knew she spit up in the first place.
Today was the first, and last time, Bree will go out of the house to a public place (the exception being doctor visits). We had a great time...and we love the pictures that we got because they all tell a story of our family!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"
...And that is what Riley will be getting! Just yesterday I noticed a little bit of white on her gums next to her right front tooth. Her left front tooth has to squeeze between the two teeth that are already there so the next few days should be full of crankiness, whiny-ness, and fit throwing! BRING IT ON!!! :)
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Sisters united at last!
Riley has done better with Bree than we were expecting...a little bit of jealousy, but that seems to be it so far! Here is some pictures...
Homecoming
We had a little bit of a mix up in communication regarding the time we were bringing Bree home. I had gone in in the morning with the intent to watch her eye exam at ten, then we were told that we had to wait six hours after her exam before we could bring her home. We had made all of our plans (dropping Riley off, cleaning house, etc.) around that. Well, I got there for the eye exam and Courtnee said "Ready to take her home? She's ready to go!" So after a flurry of calls and rushing back home to get Adam and drop off Riley we were back up at the hospital to pick her up!
Aunt Courtnee had to get one last picture in with Bree...
After that, we got our discharge instructions, packed up the little stuff we had left there, and proceeded to get her ready. We dressed her in her coming home outfit. (Bumble bee pj's and hat!), switched her over to her portable oxygen and made sure her apnea monitor was set to go. Adam loaded all up and we were ready to head out!
Courtnee walked us out with everything, and after a few dozen hugs, promises to stay in touch and almost three crying adults we were off! We got home and settled in quite nicely for the night. Our good friend Cheri was watching Riley for our first night home. We were even able to squeeze in her first bath!
Hope this finds you happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Nesting
Nesting was great as you can tell from the pictures! She is an awesome sleeper!!! I am amazed and feel so so blessed to finally have a good sleeper for a child. I love Riley to death, but she is a horrible sleeper. Even at the age of almost 15 months she wakes up at least twice a night. Ugh! The only downside to Bree being a good sleeper is that we have to wake her up every three hours to eat and she does not like it. We have to bounce her, change her diaper and work with her for a half an hour trying to get her to eat as much as possible. However, during a large majority of it she stays zonked out and feels like a sack of potatoes.
Speaking of sacks of potatoes...she is now the equivalent of a five pound bag!! Her weight last night was 5 lbs, 2 oz! What a big girl...woo hoo! We are both very excited to be bringing her home tomorrow and we are looking forward to the visit of Adam's Mama on Wednesday to help us out.
While we are on the subject of helping out...we both want to extend a warm, heartfelt THANK YOU to Danielle and Pat, Cheri and Steve, and Aleasha and Scott for being our helping support system during these crazy times for us. They have logged numerous hours in watching Riley for us so that we can go to doctor appts for Bree, classes for her monitors, nesting with her, and just allowing me time to go see Bree during the week while Adam is working. We don't know what we would have done without you all!!
Hope this finds you all happy, healthy and in love with life!
Speaking of sacks of potatoes...she is now the equivalent of a five pound bag!! Her weight last night was 5 lbs, 2 oz! What a big girl...woo hoo! We are both very excited to be bringing her home tomorrow and we are looking forward to the visit of Adam's Mama on Wednesday to help us out.
While we are on the subject of helping out...we both want to extend a warm, heartfelt THANK YOU to Danielle and Pat, Cheri and Steve, and Aleasha and Scott for being our helping support system during these crazy times for us. They have logged numerous hours in watching Riley for us so that we can go to doctor appts for Bree, classes for her monitors, nesting with her, and just allowing me time to go see Bree during the week while Adam is working. We don't know what we would have done without you all!!
Hope this finds you all happy, healthy and in love with life!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Officially...Homecoming day is...
MONDAY!! After her eye exam on Monday, (as long as it is good)...we get to pack up her stuff, put her in her carseat and walk out of the doors with her! To hear that car seat click into place in our car,and to know that she is in it, will be one of the sweetest sounds my ears will ever hear.
She is taking 50 cc's a feeding on average (which is about 2 ounces). As of today she weighs: Four pounds, thirteen ounces! Almost five pounds!!!!!!
We have a few classes we have to take before we can take her home. One is a class about the monitors she will be coming home on...she is at least coming home on an apnea monitor and on oxygen. The other class is infant CPR and choking. Then comes the BIG test....nesting. No, we don't have to build a nest or something silly like that, but we have to stay the night with her. It is a simulated "we are at home" test. They put us in a room for the night with her and she will be on all the monitors she will be on when we go home. They leave us alone for the night and let us fly solo. That way if something goes wrong in the night, or we push the wrong button we can be shown how to fix it and what to do. (BIG thank you to Danielle for watching Riley during these for us!!)
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
She is taking 50 cc's a feeding on average (which is about 2 ounces). As of today she weighs: Four pounds, thirteen ounces! Almost five pounds!!!!!!
We have a few classes we have to take before we can take her home. One is a class about the monitors she will be coming home on...she is at least coming home on an apnea monitor and on oxygen. The other class is infant CPR and choking. Then comes the BIG test....nesting. No, we don't have to build a nest or something silly like that, but we have to stay the night with her. It is a simulated "we are at home" test. They put us in a room for the night with her and she will be on all the monitors she will be on when we go home. They leave us alone for the night and let us fly solo. That way if something goes wrong in the night, or we push the wrong button we can be shown how to fix it and what to do. (BIG thank you to Danielle for watching Riley during these for us!!)
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
A Mama's Dilemma
So, I have been mulling over in my mind for the past three months on how Bree's homecoming will be. Of course, I would love for it be all smiles, hugs and kisses. Bree will come home and fit perfectly into our routine, and Riley will accept her with open arms and want to help all the time. As most of you who know me know, I think of every possible situation and I WAY overthink everything!!! This is true for her homecoming...the dilemma is this:
Riley is very much at the stage where I am the only one who can do things for her. This includes: snuggling and giving love (no one else will do, not even Daddy), play with her, read to her, and a few other things. Hence, the problem. When Bree comes home my time is going to be stretched even thinner than it is. It is going to hurt Riley's feelings that I cannot do everything with her anymore. This will result in fits and crying (I am sure of it!). Here's what breaks my heart: In order to take care of Bree properly, I am going to have to hurt Riley's feelings and cause her to feel neglected by me. Even thinking about this and writing about it brings tears to my eyes.
I am sure that every 'second time new mommy' deals with this problem, but it is exacerbated by the oxygen and apnea monitors she is coming home on. My heart aches and yearns for the day when Bree will be home and our family will finally be together all under one roof, but it also dreads the day I am going to have to look into Riley's sweet little eyes and tell her "No, Mommy can't give you love right now because I am doing something with Bree." She is not able to understand that and to see her little eyes tear up, and for her to cry is going to break my heart into a million pieces.
Riley is very much at the stage where I am the only one who can do things for her. This includes: snuggling and giving love (no one else will do, not even Daddy), play with her, read to her, and a few other things. Hence, the problem. When Bree comes home my time is going to be stretched even thinner than it is. It is going to hurt Riley's feelings that I cannot do everything with her anymore. This will result in fits and crying (I am sure of it!). Here's what breaks my heart: In order to take care of Bree properly, I am going to have to hurt Riley's feelings and cause her to feel neglected by me. Even thinking about this and writing about it brings tears to my eyes.
I am sure that every 'second time new mommy' deals with this problem, but it is exacerbated by the oxygen and apnea monitors she is coming home on. My heart aches and yearns for the day when Bree will be home and our family will finally be together all under one roof, but it also dreads the day I am going to have to look into Riley's sweet little eyes and tell her "No, Mommy can't give you love right now because I am doing something with Bree." She is not able to understand that and to see her little eyes tear up, and for her to cry is going to break my heart into a million pieces.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
A "BUG"
So, there's this bug that is going around. No, not a ladybug or a bee...but more like an annoying fly that seems to land on you at the worst moment ever! Riley still seems to have 'the bug', which consists of throwing up, stomach cramps, horrible gas and diarrhea. Today was day three on her not eating much at all so tomorrow we may be taking a trip to the urgent care office if she is still not eating.
As if not one sick person is enough, Adam came home from work sick today. All my years of knowing Adam, (six years), he has only thrown up twice that I can recall. Once when he was trashed beyond belief, and the other when he had his wisdom teeth taken out. Today he has met that record. He threw up twice at work, and then once at home. He also has all the symptoms that Riley has, which has resulted in a lot of laundry between the two of them.
That is why it is unlikey that Bree will be coming home on Thursday. I refuse to have her come home to a house full of people with 'bugs'....because a little baby around that is bound to catch it. And we can't be having a little one with a bug...she'll end up right back in the hospital!
Let's all pray for the health and recovery of Riley and Adam...and for the protection of myself and Grandma against this "bug"...the last thing we need is four sick people.
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
As if not one sick person is enough, Adam came home from work sick today. All my years of knowing Adam, (six years), he has only thrown up twice that I can recall. Once when he was trashed beyond belief, and the other when he had his wisdom teeth taken out. Today he has met that record. He threw up twice at work, and then once at home. He also has all the symptoms that Riley has, which has resulted in a lot of laundry between the two of them.
That is why it is unlikey that Bree will be coming home on Thursday. I refuse to have her come home to a house full of people with 'bugs'....because a little baby around that is bound to catch it. And we can't be having a little one with a bug...she'll end up right back in the hospital!
Let's all pray for the health and recovery of Riley and Adam...and for the protection of myself and Grandma against this "bug"...the last thing we need is four sick people.
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Bree's news
On Monday, Bree had her eye exam....no change in her ROP. Which is a good thing, and a bad thing. On one hand, at least it is not worse. However, it is a bit discouraging. The doctor did say that he does sometimes see an improvement at this point, however the more average is that they see a response the second exam. If there is no change next Monday, we are going to have to consider a second surgery.
When I was feeding Bree on Monday, she had a coughing fit and then had rapid breathing afterward. The speech pathologist was worried about aspiration, so today she had a barium swallow test. It is kind of like 'x-ray in motion'. She got to sit in this special little chair, and I fed her a bottle of the barium while they watched her on the screen. It was so awesome to see her insides while she was swallowing. She passed her swallow test with flying colors!! No problems with her swallowing...the first little swallow she does she pushes a little of her "food" into her nose, but the doctor said that that won't cause any problems. She will figure out that it is unpleasant and will learn how to swallow correctly in time.
Bree could come home as early as Friday (which is unlikely...)or more realistically we are still looking at Monday-Tuesday ish...
When I was feeding Bree on Monday, she had a coughing fit and then had rapid breathing afterward. The speech pathologist was worried about aspiration, so today she had a barium swallow test. It is kind of like 'x-ray in motion'. She got to sit in this special little chair, and I fed her a bottle of the barium while they watched her on the screen. It was so awesome to see her insides while she was swallowing. She passed her swallow test with flying colors!! No problems with her swallowing...the first little swallow she does she pushes a little of her "food" into her nose, but the doctor said that that won't cause any problems. She will figure out that it is unpleasant and will learn how to swallow correctly in time.
Bree could come home as early as Friday (which is unlikely...)or more realistically we are still looking at Monday-Tuesday ish...
Sunday, December 7, 2008
An unlikely first
As of lately, we have been talking about a lot of 'firsts'. Namely, Bree's firsts. Well tonight we experienced one of Riley's firsts. It was not one that most people remember or celebrate for that matter, but it is a first. It was Riley's bed time and we were letting her run around and play because she was still up for it. You know, to help wear her out just a little bit more. She started to come towards me...and then she lost it. Yeah, that's right...she threw up all over herself and the floor. Poor kiddo....she threw up about four more times that time. Mind you, this was the first time she has ever thrown up. :(
We let her rest on me (thankfully none on me!) and when she was settled down, we got her cleaned up, changed and ready for bed again. We made a bottle of 3/4 water and 1/4 juice to help to rehydrate her. No sooner than three minutes of laying her down in bed did Adam hear the tell tale noise....and I got to change her bed, and wipe it down with clorox wipes. Nana helped us out and got the laundry load started to wash everything all up.
This time, we let her rest for an hour before we tried laying down again...and so far so goood. She's been down for a half an hour and right after I get down writing this I am checking on her and headed to bed myself.
I hope my sweet little girl wakes up refreshed...and with a non-yucky tummy!
Hope this finds you happy, healthy, and in love with life!
We let her rest on me (thankfully none on me!) and when she was settled down, we got her cleaned up, changed and ready for bed again. We made a bottle of 3/4 water and 1/4 juice to help to rehydrate her. No sooner than three minutes of laying her down in bed did Adam hear the tell tale noise....and I got to change her bed, and wipe it down with clorox wipes. Nana helped us out and got the laundry load started to wash everything all up.
This time, we let her rest for an hour before we tried laying down again...and so far so goood. She's been down for a half an hour and right after I get down writing this I am checking on her and headed to bed myself.
I hope my sweet little girl wakes up refreshed...and with a non-yucky tummy!
Hope this finds you happy, healthy, and in love with life!
The "Question"
Sooo...the question has been answered! Bree will be coming home next week! We were told it could be as early as Thursday this week, but more realistically we are looking at next Monday! We are a mixture of emotions...obviously, we are thrilled with her coming home, it's what we have been waiting for all along. We are even more excited that it is before her due date....most preemies don't come home at least until their due date. (hers was December 19th).
However, on the other hand, it is scary to think that they have had her hooked up to all these monitors, watching her heartrate and her breathing, and we are going to be sent home with none of that if she comes off of the oxygen. If she comes home on the oxygen, she will be sent home with an apnea monitor and an oximeter. It is kind of a double edged sword situation. One one hand, it will be a little harder if she comes home on oxygen because of the monitors, and the oxygen itself. But, if she manages to get off of it, she comes home with none of the monitors, which is easier to move her around...but trust me, I will get no sleep at all!
Tomorrow is Bree's eye exam...the first since her surgery. Let's pray that the doctor at least sees a little bit of a positive step forward for her ROP.
However, on the other hand, it is scary to think that they have had her hooked up to all these monitors, watching her heartrate and her breathing, and we are going to be sent home with none of that if she comes off of the oxygen. If she comes home on the oxygen, she will be sent home with an apnea monitor and an oximeter. It is kind of a double edged sword situation. One one hand, it will be a little harder if she comes home on oxygen because of the monitors, and the oxygen itself. But, if she manages to get off of it, she comes home with none of the monitors, which is easier to move her around...but trust me, I will get no sleep at all!
Tomorrow is Bree's eye exam...the first since her surgery. Let's pray that the doctor at least sees a little bit of a positive step forward for her ROP.
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