Novermber 29, 2008

We all went to see Bree today! Riley gave her sister her first kiss from her (melts my heart to look at the picture!) and then her second... and then her third! In fact, Riley was very into giving her kisses. However, Riley thinks that Bree is a baby doll and even asked me to give Bree to her. (she said please in sign language and then held her arms out for Bree.) It was so cute, but I did not give her what she asked for obviously!

Adam hadn't seen Bree in about two weeks so he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her! He got to feed her today, and she gave him quite a scare. She decided to choke on her milk, and we are both very jumpy with her. I think that will last for a bit considering what we have been through.

I was brave enough to hold both girls for a picture, which turned out quite nicely I might add! Riley was interested in Bree's nasal cannula and did try to pull it out. I think we are in for a bit of a struggle if she comes home on oxygen. Riley will have to learn to leave it alone.

Bree is doing great. She is up to 35 cc's of breastmilk, and is down to .1 liters of oxygen at 50%. She is attempted to be fed every feeding and as of right now the pattern she is holding at seems to be one full feeding by bottle, then she takes about half of the next one by bottle but becomes too tired to take the rest. She receives the rest of it through her feeding tube. The next bottle she drinks, she drinks all of it and etc... etc...

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

November 28, 2008

Good evening!

Well, we have some good news and some bad news today. Good news is that all last night Bree ate her meals out of a bottle! She is up to 4 lbs 5 ounces and is doing GREAT in her big girl crib! The bad news is that they did her eye exam again today and her ROP is worse. They are talking about laser surgery (90 percent certain it will happen). They are re-checking on Monday and if it is the same or worse they will be doing the surgery next week. We are reassured that it is a short recovery time, but any type of surgery scares me.

Since her eye exam today, she has been tired and irritable. The eye exams are stressful for her and seem to ruin her day when she gets one. We are all going to see her tomorrow morning and to get a picture of both of the girls in their christmas dresses for our christmas cards. They both have off white and gold dresses that are oh-so -cute!

I tackled and braved the crowds today for Black Friday shopping deals and I emerged triumphant! I actually need to get to wrapping some presents so.........

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

November 27, 2008

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving! We hope that you enjoyed your day with friends and family. We hope you ate lots of turkey, smashed potatoes, and are currently relaxin on the couch watchin football and thinking about if you can fit another piece of pie into you! We are thankful for our miracle baby Bree, and for all of our family and friends. Even the friends we have never met, but who follow our story we are appreciative of! I think it is so cool that we have people from Australia, Washington, Maine and all over that read our story. I think it would be really cool if everyone could post where they are from (and their name!) in the form of a comment on here so we could see how many followers we have!

We got the best news ever today! We were told (in the words of the nurse) that "come hell or high water" Bree will be home for Christmas!!!!! Exciting exciting exciting!!! Today, she is 4 pounds, 3 ounces. She was moved to a big girl bed again, and is down to .2 liters of oxygen at 50%. She is doing great!!! She is doing so awesome with her feeds on the bottle that they might be moving her to eating 2 of every 3 feeds out of a bottle. We are so happy and excited about all of this great news today!

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

November 26, 2008

Good evening!

We didn't get a chance to go see Bree today, but I did call and get an update on her. I was told by her nurse today, Fran, that Bree is a pleasure to take care of, and is oh-so-cute! (I agree!) She ate both of her feedings from her bottle in about 10-15 minutes each. She has been weaned down to .3 liters for oxygen.

Today we had a late morning at the house, and then we all went out to Uncle Ricks (except for Adam who was at work) to hang and have some dinner. We even made a short trip to Devin and Jason's house to see how it was all set up. Devin is nine months pregnant and is in the last few days of her pregnancy. She is having contractions and hopes that Baby Wyatt will stay in for a few more days so that she can get Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping out of the way!

A little funny story tonight about Riley: She is really wanting to drink out of the cups that we have. So, tonight I grabbed a plastic shot glass for her to have for her own. At first, we gave her a bit of Diet Mountain Dew in her "cup". She did great with it! I didn't want her to have too much of the soda, so I went and got some water that we could pour into her "cup" for her. She was drinking from it pretty well, and she even was so nice that she wanted to share with her Auntie. She took her full little shot glass and quickly thrust her arm in the direction of Auntie. This proceeded to throw the water all over her Auntie!! Too funny!

Also, here's the picture from Santa...she wasn't too happy about it!

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

November 25, 2008

Good evening!

The day started off with a visit to Bree. She is doin great as you can see! When the picture was taken, she was getting all ready for her bath...She is now 4 lbs, 1 oz, and is up to 33 cc's a feeding, which is supplemented so that it is 36 calories per feeding. Her ROP results were left for me, and it has not gone down, but it has shown no increase or change at all. No news is good news!

Today she enjoyed her bath, but it wore her out so much that she wasn't able to nipple her feeding. So she got to try, but when she wasn't interested it got put onto her pump to go through her feeding tube. Wehn we left, she was snug as a bug in a rug. She was swaddled, and put back into her isolette.

With the family, we took a little trip this afternoon and ran a few errands. After a few quick stops we stopped at the "air park" located on base. We played around, took some pictures, and Riley had a great time! She enjoyed crawling back and forth over the brick border that was lining the area. (Kids play with the wierdest things!) Here is a snapshot my stepmom she took as us kiddos were headed back to the car.

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

November 24, 2008

FOUR POUNDS!!!!!! Woooooooooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!What a big girl. She broke the four pound mark last night! She is actually exactly four pounds today.

Another exciting event that happened yesterday was that she had another eye exam. Now, the nurses don't tell me the results for some reason(it is left for me to decipher in the form of a note from the opthamologist), but they do tell me when the next one is scheduled. The farther apart they are, the better her eyes are. When her ROP went to a stage two she was having them every week. She had one yesterday, and the next one is not next week, but the week after! That means that it is getting better!!! Yee haw!

Her feeds are up to 33 cc's a feeding (which it will probably go up once they calculate her weight increase), and she is still nippling every other. Drinking from a bottle really wears her out, so that's all she can handle right now. However, it is so so exciting that she is now slightly reaching the milestones that we have been being told about for the past two months. (Drinking from a bottle, reaching four pounds, etc)

Her oxygen is still on, and it is at .4 liters and 35% oxygen. However, every little bit is a step forward and a celebration within itself! Today, we are taking Riley to see Santa, hopefully it doesn't end in tears! She has started to have some of the stranger anxiety so we'll see how it goes!

November 23, 2008

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!! Okay, so it is really not turkey day for the nation, but for our family it was. My step mom, brother and sister are actually leaving on Thanksgiving so we had ours today. It was great! Deep fried turkey (kudos to Adam), mashed taters, sweet potatoes, green beans, steamed carrots, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and of course gravy! Mmmmm Mmmmm good! Riley even enjoyed it. :) Best of all though, is the time spent with family. The laughter over stupid jokes, the retelling of old stories from back in the day, and making new memories as well!

My sister and I are headed out to see the movie Twilight, and the boys and Mindy (Riley too!) are staying home and just hanging. Bree is hanging at the hospital (of course) and is doing great today! Well, we need to head off to our movie...and when we get home I think a piece of pumpkin pie will be calling my name...with cool whip of course!

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

November 22, 2008

"Look, it's mousse!" My stepmom was convinced today, for a few brief seconds, that the hospital was so concerned with everyone's hairstyle that they mounted little cans of 'mousse' on the walls everywhere in the hospital. She then proceeded to rub it in her hair! Okay, so really she knew it was foam antibacterial purell, but she did pretend to rub it in her hair. (and accidently got it in there!) Ha ha!

Well, as you can tell from the pictures and the story, we didn't go to the zoo today. Adam woke up sick with a bad cold, and Riley had a very yucky (VERY!!!) diaper this morning, combined with a low grade fever so we figured a day at home would be good for the both of them. Sooo...Mindy, Danielle, Caleb and myself went to the hospital to turn in some bottles of breastmilk for Bree, and to stay for a visit.

Today we got to give Bree a bath, and Mindy got to give her a bottle again! Bree was a champ during her bath, and she got so hungry from her bath she ate all 35 cc's in her bottle! Woo hoo!

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

November 21, 2008

As of today Bree has met all of her grandmas! She still has her great grandma Ogden (Nana) and Gram (who is her great great grandma) to meet, but she met her Gamma Mindy today. Gamma got to change her diaper and even feed her a bottle. So far, I have been the only one to give her a bottle so I decided I would let Gamma have a turn.

Bree also got to meet Auntie Danielle and Uncle a-buh (Caleb), but they were too scared to hold her so I didn't get a picture of them with her. Bree is doing well today and I hope to see some weight gain from her tonight. She had lost five grams yesterday so I am hoping that she at least gains that little bit back. For some reason, I have been worried about her weight as of lately.

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

November 20, 2008

Good afternoon everyone!

Bree is doing well today! Riley is crying and tugging on my short, and I am doin pretty good. Adam is at work today, and will be at work until about 930 tonight. Riley and I will be going to R groups tonight so I am a little hesitant. It starts right at her bedtime, which I could bring a pack and play, but I don't want her to go to sleep just for an hour. So we are going to try and tough it out...we'll see what happens. (wish me luck)

I forgot to tell everyone that Bree moved from station 10 to station 21 in the NICU. We were told in the beginning that as we get closer to moving home, that she will become more and more secluded. This new area is in a room with three other babies (four beds total).

These pictures are from when I last went and saw her, isn't she the cutest?

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

November 19, 2008

Good evening!

3 pounds 14 ounces!!!!! We are nearing the four pound mark...woo hoo! It is so ridiculously exciting. After the past few months going so slow, and counting grams instead of ounces it is so odd to have things 'speed up' as of lately. We were told the unofficial weight limit for her to go home was at least four pounds. So we are hovering around the edge of it.

She is also being given every other feeding by bottle. This has only been in effect today, but she is doing well with it. She does struggle with waking up at night to take the bottle, but for now she needs her rest more than they need to wake her up to take it from a bottle. They will try to give it to her but if she seems too sleepy, they will just put it in her feeding tube. Before she goes home she will have to be nippling all of her feeds, but this is a step in the right direction! Baby steps are a good thing....

Riley and I had a fun day today. Our friends, Pat and Danielle were moving today so I watched their kiddos while they moved all their stuff. Riley played really hard today with Aidan and Ivy and I am hoping for a long night of sleeping (for both of us!). Speaking of which, I am going to go shower and head to bed...

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

November 18, 2008

Happy Birthday Ashley! It is my best friends birthday today and she turned the big 2-2!

In honor of her birthday, Bree had her first set of immunizations! Okay, so she didn't have them just for Ashley's birthday, but I will always remember this occasion when her birthday rolls around. :) Bree got some tylenol about a half an hour before her shot (it was a combo of like three different vaccinations). When she did get the shot, she did the silent cry-so-hard-you-can't-breathe for a good 10-15 seconds. I am not one to freak out about things, but she had me rubbing her head and telling her "Breathe, love, it's okay!". Her face turned a bright shade of purple, and when she finally caught her breath she was all tuckered out.

After she had a good rest, I was able to bottle feed her. She took her whole feeding like a champ! (30 cc's!!!) She is able to pace herself now, so she doesn't choke at all when she is eating. The speech therapist sat with me while she ate to make sure I was holding her the right way, and that she was latching onto the bottle okay. I was also told that I need to bring in the bottles that we will be using at home so she can get used to them before she goes home. This is the first time someone has mentioned her going home in a general sense so it was exciting to hear that! Since we are still using bottles with Riley, I will probably go pick up a few packs of bottles for Bree to have at the hospital so we aren't taking from our stash here at home. :)

After her feeding I needed to get going because I had told Aleasha I would be back around four to hang with her and pick up Riley. I got Bree all settled in her bed, but she kept spitting up. I sat her up and was wiping her mouth when she started getting really fussy. Out of curiosity, I checked her diaper....yup! Poop! and lots of it! I changed her britches, and got her all settled in snug and cozy while her nurse, Becky weighed her diaper. 22 grams of poop! 30 grams is an ounce, so that was a lot for a little girl.

Thinking that her acid reflux was bothering her, I put her in her bouncy seat sitting up. Since it is outside of her isolette she needed another blanket so I went and got one. While tucking it around her, my littlest monsters face turned red and I heard a little bubbly fart. Ugh! I got her out of her seat, back on the bed...and yup! More poop! and even more of it! I got all the 'supplies' gathered (diaper, wipes) and went about changing it. I wiped her little toosh, and got a second wipe. While wiping for the second time she pushed out a whole nother load right onto the wipe I was holding! I gasped in surprise and both nurses who were in the room rushed over thinking something was wrong. When they found out what happened, they all cracked up. Guess how much all that poo weighed? 28 grams!!!! Our kiddo pooped out about 2 whole ounces today! Jeez!

Now some of you who are reading and don't have kids probably are thinking I am either gross, have a sick mind, or just have issues and am obsessed with my kid's poop. Trust me, once you have kids, you will talk about poop, rejoice when your kid does poop, and worry when they don't. You will even discuss their 'poop habits' with friends. Just trust me on this one. :)

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

November 17, 2008

Good evening!

Our littlest monster is gaining weight like crazy! She is now 3 lbs 11 ounces! We are nearing the four pound mark...woo hoo! She nippled her entire feeding again today. She's up to 30 cc's a feeding...what a big girl! Tomorrow I am going in in the morning to sign for her to recieve her immunizations, and to hear their talk about them all....I am not sure if all of that is different with preemies, but we will see. It makes me a little nervous about putting something in her body that has the possibility of making her sick. We work so hard and pray so much for her continued health that it seems silly to inject her with stuff. However, I know it is for a good cause. It is just me having a "mommy moment" ("This is my baby! Don't touch it!!!!").

Last night, I was laying down and resting on the couch and Riley had come over to me. For some reason she decided to throw her head back against me as hard as she could. She caught me right on my lip!! It brought tears from me, and lots of ice right after! I had a swollen split fat lip for the rest of the night, and I have a nasty sore on the inside of my lip now. I know it won't be the last time my children contribute to an injury of mine, but it was for sure one of the most painful!!

Riley is learning animal noises as of lately. We have the monkey noise down..."ah-ah-ah". Mind you, this noise is not complete without bouncing up and down while you are making it. We are also working on the cow noise....if you say "mmmoooooooooo!" she will answer you with "mmmmmmm". I think the "ooo" part will follow one of these days.

"The itsy bitsy spider..." We all remember this childhood song, and we teach it to our children when they are small as well. Riley LOVES this song! She knows most of the hand motions..."The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout" part is executed perfectly..."down came the rain" is done great!. "And washed the spider out" is a little iffy. She just crosses her arms in front of her self. "Out came the sun and dried up all the rain" is just dancing (maybe she needs a break from all the seriousness??). "and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again" is once again...perfection! All this is followed by clapping, and the song is repeated. Over and over and over again....she never tires of it!

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

Milestones

This is something that I have been mulling over in my mind for the past few weeks and I feel like I need to write about it. There are so many things that we have taken for granted. When Riley was born she breathed on her own, could nurse and eat, and she was perfect in every medical sense. With Bree, it has opened our eyes to a whole new way of thinking.

When Bree was born, she could not breathe on her own, could not eat at all, and in fact her heart had stopped beating at her birth and she had to have CPR right after she was born. She has had milestones that not many children have. The fact that she is alive right now is the biggest milestone of all. Her milestones as of today are as follows:

- Came off of Oscillating Ventilator (went to a Jet Ventilator)
- Her brain bleeds stopped growing and stayed at Stage Three
- Came off of Jet Ventilator (went to a Conventional Ventilator)
- Started on feeds slowly but surely
- Came off of Conventional Ventilator (went to CPAP) (HUGE MILESTONE!)
- Came off of CPAP (went to humidified high flow oxygen)
- Bree is big enough to be stolen, and she gets her Baby Lo-Jack
- Bree is big enough to have a real bath, instead of a sponge bath
- She gets up to full feeds and is tolerating them well
- Came off of humidified high flow oxygen (went to regular oxygen)
- Started nippling one feed a day
- Bree's brain bleeds have gone down to a stage 2

Look at all of that! It just amazes me when I stop and think about it. It has been a hard road, and one that I never thought that I would take. However, we love Bree more than anything, as we do with Riley as well. We are thankful to God for his goodness, his mercy and his amazing healing power. He does more than we realize...and it is through the power of prayer that Bree is here and doing as well as she is.

We will not ever take one milestone for granted for either of our girls, but especially for Bree. She is already making noises (little grunts and normal newborn noises), but her first giggle will be such a sweet sound. Her first steps will be a huge celebration for her, and we will all dance with joy when those occur. Just the thought of watching her grow up with her older sister through the next few years brings tears to my eyes.

This whole experience has made me more appreciative of what we have. Some people would take this experience as ask "why me?" and feel bitter and angry that their child had to be born so early. I look at it, and I do wonder why, but I know that God had a reason and that it fits perfectly into his plan for our family. Our eyes have been opened to the true miracle that life is, and what it has to hold for our future.

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

November 16, 2008

Good afternoon,

We have little updates on both of our girls today! Yersterday I noticed a little bit more white in Riley's mouth., she's getting another tooth! After two to three weeks to teething, I can see the beginnings of her upper left front tooth coming through...yee haw! That brings her teeth count up to a total of five...she's just like her mama. I was a little on the late side of getting teeth when I was young.

Speaking of myself, I am being hit hard by this cold. I keep hoping that when I wake up in the morning I will feel a little bit better, but for the past two mornings that has not been the case. I hope that I start feeling and getting better soon! I cannot go see Bree until I feel super 100% better. I was so out of it this morning I didn't do anything but lay on the couch and blow my nose. (it seemed like I was blowing it every 30 seconds!!)

We are finaling out of our house on base tomorrow so we did have to make a trip out there today. After much cold medicine, I went to clean the appliances, Adam painted Riley's old room, and Riley ran around screaming and crawling in and out of the closets. I didn't last too long there so we are home (new home) and Adam is running out later tonight to clean up the rest. As of tomorrow we will be officially out of our old house!

EXCITING NEWS ALERT! I just got off the phone with Bree's nurse and she nippled her WHOLE feeding!!! What a big girl! I am so proud of her...it does take a lot of energy out of her to do that, but the fact that she can is a huge thing. It is just a manner of her gaining weight and getting stronger so that she can start nippling feeds more and more and more. All of these little milestones are bringing her closer and closer to coming home with us!

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

November 15, 2008

Today is a better day...Bree seems to be recovering well from whatever it was that had brought her down. She received a total of two blood transfusions overall. Supposedly her hematocrit level had been really really low, and that can cause poor digestion and difficulty in breathing because there are not enough red blood cells to carry the oxygen around the body. The poor digestion could have been what caused her belly to measure one centimeter larger because after they gave her a glycerin chip (suppository) and she pooped, her belly measured a-okay.

We had one unhappy kiddo last night though. She hadn't been given any food by mouth for over 24 hours, and even though she was given sustenance (TPN) through her IV, it did not sustain her hunger feeling. In her anger (and fits), she pulled out her NG tube (her feeding tube), and she also pulled out her IV that was in her right arm. It was even all splinted up to help prevent that! The only way to keep her happy was to give her a paci, or to hold her. (That's what Jolynn said!)

She was restarted on feeds today, and even got to nipple one of them. She got 7 cc's, then 7 cc's, then 14 cc's, 14 cc's again and this next feeding they are bumping it up to 21 cc's. She'll have two feedings of 21cc's, then she will be up to 28 cc's (which is full feeds for her). One of the 7 cc feedings was the one she got to nipple feed on and she did great! She ate it all, and even paced herself all on her own! She is such an amazing little girl.

Thank you for your prayers and let's all continue to pray for her continued rocovery and strength!

November 14, 2008

So last night we got some not so super news. Bree had been agitated and tired all day long and it started to affect her breathing. They raised her oxygen, (she is now on 2 liters instead of the previous .4 and she is on 30% oxygen). Her 'girth' (the measure around her belly) showed a centimeter bigger, but when they did an xray it just showed extra gas in her belly. They also stopped her feeds just in case of an infection of the intestine. They did put in an IV to continue to give her fluids. They have done a million tests and blood draws and so far everything has come back okay. So hopefully they will start giving her her feeds again. Jolynn said that she has been a cranky butt all night! (I would be too!)

Jolynn also mentioned that Bree looks pale so they did a CBC last night and one this morning. Because of the results of these, she will more than likely be getting a blood transfusion this morning. This will help out tremendously with her breathing as she will have more red blood cells to carry oxygen around her body.

Overall, Jolynn thinks that Bree has caught a cold. She's been suctioning green snot out of her nose all night long, and it has been runny as well. :( Poor kiddo. I even feel ten times worse because I woke up this morning with a sore throat, sneezing and a stuffy nose. I didn't have any of this yesterday or when I went to bed! So I am probably the one, despite handwashing and being super careful, that got her sick. I feel absolutely horrible.

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

November 13, 2008

Good afternoon,

I got to go visit Bree early this morning...she is doing pretty good. I got to feed her again today and she only 5 cc's this time. That was no fault of hers though! She got the hiccups and wasn't able to continue trying to nipple feed due to the risk of aspiration. Bree got pretty worn out today, she had to have a clothes change due to her pajamas giving her a little rash. The collar on her pj's were rubbing on her neck and she had a little area of rash so I changed her.

Other than that nothing too new going on today. I have unpacking to do, and I am waiting for the dishwasher repairman to come fix our dishwasher. This is the third time we have tried to have someone come out and fix it....Rrr!

November 12, 2008

Good night...

It's not technically evening anymore....I think this is the latest I have ever posted! Adam just called for an update and her combined weight gain for the last two days is 60 grams. That is two ounces! Woo hoo! So she is now 3 lbs, 5 ounces. I got to spend a good part of the day with her and I enjoyed holding her, feeding her and snuggling with her. I got her to take 12 cc's of breastmilk through the bottle, however only 10 cc's "counted" because she spits out little bits of milk here and there.

For some reason, both Adam and I have been dead tired the past few days. I think everything is starting to catch up with us from the past two months. Oh well, we will try and get as much sleep as possible before Bree comes home. Speaking of which, I better get off of here because it is 10 at night...

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

November 11, 2008

Good afternoon all!

This morning my mom and I went up to see Bree while Riley and Adam had some Daddy Daughter bonding time. Bree is doing well and gained 15 grams yesterday (half of an ounce). She is being a good little girl and doing everything she's suppose to be doin. She ate her usual 5 cc's out of her bottle this morning. However, we did get some bad news today. Bree has early ROP. This is something that happens often with preemies, however it can result in eye damage and possible blindness. Please let's all pray for the healing of her eyes, and for the precision and dedication of the doctors that are caring for her. There are a wonderufl bunch of doctors that workthe hospital with Bree. We trust all of them with our heart and know that God helps them with all that they do.

We got the girls their new stroller yesterday. It is the Graco Quattro Duo, and it is so nice! A friend of ours, Danielle, has the same one for her kiddos and it was on her recommendation taht we decided to go with this one. So far Riley loves it...she tries to climb up on it and sit down. We will try it out in two weeks when we take Riley to the zoo with her "Gamma", Auntie Danielle and Uncle A-buh (caleb).

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