5 pounds!

That's how much Brooke weighed today when the home health nurse came : ).

She's starting to hold her body temperature up a little better without have to be completely wrapped up in a blanket. I'm sure it helps that it's finally warming up outside and our house is staying warmer! She no longer likes having her arms wrapped in the blanket anyway. She gets sooo mad until you pull them out. LOL. So it's a good thing she's staying warm better!

Yesterday we had a cookout at my mom and dad's. She got to spend the whole day outside on the covered deck. Lots of fresh air!

We decided not to get the Amby bed for her. Instead I think we're going to get her a Boppy newborn lounger to sleep in for awhile. It's a heck of a lot cheaper AND I know of a few people whose babies slept in them for awhile due to reflux/spitting up issues. Either that or I'm thinking of trying her in the bouncy seat instead of the swing where she's been sleeping. I'm leaning towards the lounger due to the fact that I can put it beside me in the bed (king size bed and I sleep in it alone because the mattress kills Doug's back), however I'm worried about her getting used to sleeping in our bed and not being able to get her out. Ryan transitioned easily from the bouncy seat to his crib when he was around a year old, so hopefully :::fingers crossed::: Brooke will adapt to change just as well, lol.

Sorry I'm slacking so bad on pictures. I think I need to try out this Picasa site for pictures. It's such a pain for me to put the pics up on here. First I have to get them on to the computer. Then I rename them all according to date and resize them (make them smaller). Then I have to upload them to Photobucket and then C&P the links for the pics in to the blog. YUCK. It's getting old! I'll post some more soon.

PICTURES!! Finally...

Here's a bunch!

Thursday, May 15th

First day in her "big girl bed", 2 days before coming home.

Friday, May 16th

All strapped in for her carseat test. She had to sit in it for an hour and make sure she tolerated it okay. We have to roll a blanket and put on each side of her and then one between her legs, to get a good, snug fit!

This is back in the "rooming in" room. We took her back there about 3pm on Friday and we were back there with her until she was discarged Saturday morning! It was actually pretty fun : ). I didn't take pics of the room (should have), but it was pretty much like a small hotel room....bed, arm chair, rocking chair, armoire, dresser, nightstand, TV, and adjoining bathroom. Very nice!

: )

Saturday, May 17th

In the car, leaving the hospital!

Home, Sweet Home : )

"Vogue"-ing. LOL.

Ryan just saw his baby sister at home for the first time. He was excited!

He was so happy she touched him. LOL.

My two babies :*).

Fascinated. LOL.

Trying to give her a toy egg, lol.

Our first family picture!

Awwww :*)

Sunday, May 18th

Our little burrito, lol.

Aunt Diane (my sister) and Uncle Shawn (her boyfriend). Ryan wouldn't look at the camera...he was too worried about his Gameboy : P.

Wide awake after her 9pm feeding (of course, lol).

So we had a photo shoot. Doesn't she look thrilled? ; )

Her faces crack me up.

Sitting pretty. I love this pic.

Being this cute is exhausting!

She is sooo long that she is just fitting in to newborn sleepers! Ryan wore preemie until he was 7-8lbs!

Monday, May 19th

First bath at home. She didn't protest too much.

She reminds me of a little monkey in this pic! LOL.

She could wear that washcloth as a dress! LOL.

Newborn onesie, which is still quite roomy on her. She has long legs and a shorter torso...Ryan is opposite!

Okay, that's all the pictures for now! I have more from the rest of the week, but they're still on the camera.

I bought a Dr. Brown's bottle Friday night. She actually drinks out of it really well! It seems to come out faster than her other bottles, but she hasn't choked or had any problems with it. Her feedings have been going a little faster with this bottle. It does seem like she's not as gassy, but she's still spitting up a bit. But I think just for the fact that she seems to be much more efficient drinking out of it that we're going to go ahead and get some more. I'm wondering (Molly), if the formula does have something to do with her gassiness and spitting, but I don't think there's an alternative preterm formula. Ryan never had a problem on Neosure, but I know all babies are different! Like I said, though, she doesn't seem as gassy. And the spitting up isn't frequent or large amounts, so we'll wait and see. Hopefully it won't get any worse!

Pediatrician appointment

Brooke had her first ped. appointment yesterday. According to their scale, she was 4lb. 14oz., one ounce more than the day before when home health was here : ). Everything else checked out fine with her and he wants to see her back in 2 weeks. She was so good for her appointment and didn't even fuss (or grunt, lol) while he was examining her.

She has been spitting up more than she was before. It's not a TON, so I'm not too worried yet. It's mostly soon after feedings and/or if she's jostled around too much or even lays flat. So she's been sleeping in her swing the past couple nights because I'm just too paranoid to lay her down in her bassinet and have her choke or something. We are thinking about getting her an Amby bed, used off of Ebay since they're so expensive (check out the link and read a little about them if you've never heard of them...they look pretty neat and comfy, too!) or one of these, which is basically the same thing, but much cheaper! I figure we can resell it, whichever one we get, whenever she's done with it : ). Ryan was not a spitter at all, so this is all new to us!!

I did mention the spitting up to the ped. and he said we shouldn't worry about it unless she starts doing it all the time and/or she's spitting up half or more of what she drinks. So we'll just keep an eye on it for now and hopefully it won't get any worse. I hate not knowing when it's going to come up and where it's going to land. LOL. Not to mention, whether or not she's going to choke on it : (. And sometimes she gets SO upset afterwards...it's pitiful : (.

Just a couple things I want to say about some comments that were left:

~I plan on getting a Dr. Brown's bottle to try with her to see if it helps with the gassiness (and maybe the spitting up). We tried the VentAire yesterday again and it was still a no go with her. Hopefully we'll be able to get her to take one of the 2 eventually!

~I did decide to stop pumping a couple weeks ago because of the stupid thrush (that I *still can't get totally rid of @@ <--- eye roll), so I never did breastfeed her : (. We have a lot of frozen breast milk in the freezer. Brooke's drinks half breast milk and half Similac Neosure (preterm baby formula).

Now it's time to go get ready to feed her! I'm STILL working on getting some pics up!

GRRRR!!

I'm having issues right now getting pics on to the blog. Sorry! : (

Brooke is doing well at home! The home health nurse was here again this morning and Brooke weighed in at 4lb. 13oz. So if you go by the 4lb. 10oz. that she was on Sunday according to that scale, she's gained 3oz. in 3 days which is right on target for what she "should" be gaining : ). The nurse said everything else looks good! Brooke has her first appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow morning for a check up. The home health nurse will come once a week for the next 3 weeks, unless the doctor feels it needs to be longer than that.

Feedings are going better for the most part. Except this morning, she had 2 huge spit ups while burping, but I'm pretty sure it was from the nasty vitamins. Hoping that's all it was because that's the most she's spit up yet! Right now she's sleeping peacefully in her swing. It's not actually swinging...I like to put her in there because she's in more of a reclined/upright position. With her spitting up occasionally, I don't like laying her flat too soon after a feeding.

Ryan is still doing well with her. He occasionally asks to hold her and he just sits there and stares at her and hugs and kisses her. It is too sweet :*). He gets mad when you take her back, lol. So far he hasn't tried to pick her up by himself, but he has attempted to get up while holding her or to take her out of my arms while standing, lol. We have to keep her bundled up in a blanket (or 2) with a hat on pretty much all the time yet because she can't hold her temperature up on her own yet and if he sees her hat off, like while she's being fed, he'll try to put it back on her.

We *have been having some issues with him and his attitude and mouthiness, but that was going on long before she came home. LOL. Last night he was in bed by 7:30 (normal bed time is 8:00) because he was being so difficult and dare I say bratty. Hopefully this will pass soon! Everyone always talks about the terrible 2's, but they were NOTHING compared to this! LOL.

I think right now the biggest issue we're going to have with Brooke is gas/tummy aches. Like I've mentioned before, she's a big time burper. She also toots a lot. She gets fussy now and then and then all of a sudden she'll let one rip (and man, do they stink! LOL. There've been numerous times when I thought she actually pooped only to look and find nothing in her diaper). I talked to the home health nurse about this today and she said there's not really much you can do because babies are always going to swallow air, either while they're feeding or crying. She said the gas drops don't really do anything and are only really recommended if there's a digestive problem. I did buy an Playtex VentAire bottle to see if that would help with her feedings because she gulps a lot, but she wasn't too fond of it. I'll have to try it again when she's a bit bigger, I guess. Right now we're just using the skinny little 2oz. bottles that the NICU gave us.

Well, Ryan is having one of his moments right now, so I gotta run. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pics up SOON!

She's home!

Sorry I didn't post sooner! We got home yesterday morning around 11am. We were home for a few hours and then stopped in at my cousin's birthday party and then we went to Doug's oldest brother's house for cake and ice cream for his younger son's birthday. Busy day! Brooke didn't seem bothered by it at all. She mostly just sleeps.

So far the most stressful part about having her home is her feedings. It can really be a struggle sometimes to get her "minimum" in her and she takes so long to eat sometimes. She's an endless burper and you can never be sure towards the end of the bottle if she needs to burp or is just done. I was actually in tears a couple times last night because I just felt like we weren't doing something right (which probably really isn't the "problem" at all...she just needs to get bigger and closer to her due date for her to eat better). We had no problems feeding her while we were "in" the hospital with her. Well, I guess we aren't technically having problems at home, it's just challenging and a little more overwhelming since we're on our own.

A home health nurse was here this morning to check up on her. Everything looks good so far, except we think she may have lost a tiny bit of weight. It's hard to say since she was weighed on different scales, though. At discharge she was 4lb. 11oz. and today she was 4lb. 10oz. But we'll be following up with the pediatrician this week and probably home health again, too. And depending on our insurance (the HH nurse is looking in to it tomorrow), she may keep coming once a week or something like that for awhile. I hope so...it would be great peace of mind to know she's growing okay! By the way, the nurse measured her at 18 inches!

Ryan just adores Brooke :*). He's always loving on her and it's so sweet. At one point yesterday he said it was *his turn to hold her. I sat beside him and he just sat there with his arms wrapped around her watching TV for a few minutes, lol. I would ask if I could take her back and he would say no. He will just out of the blue walk up and hug her and kiss her. So sweet. So far he seems to be taking to having her here okay, even earlier when I was feeding her and he wanted something and had to wait.

I do have some pictures to post sometime, but I'm not sure when I'll get to them. Hopefully soon!

Looking good

Well, so far it's looking like Brooke *will be discharged tomorrow! She's been doing pretty well with her feedings and gaining weight. Tonight will be the true test when she rooms in with us. Hopefully all goes well!

We'll be heading down to the hospital in a little while. First we have to stop at Rite Aid and see if they can mix her diuretic med. Hopefully they'll be able to and we can get her prescription filled there. If not there, I'm not sure where. The nurse last night did say that the pharmacy across from the hospital can do it, but we don't want to be running down there all the time just for that, especially with gas prices!

Ryan is going to my mom and dad's for the bulk of the day then Doug's mom is picking him up after she gets off work and he's spending the night there because my mom works early in the morning.

Last night was (most likely) my last night of uninterrupted sleep for awhile. Eeeek. LOL. This is going to take some getting used to!

We're taking our laptop to the hospital with us so we can maybe watch a movie this evening while we're in our room with Brooke. We should have internet access, so I *might hop on and give an update. If not, hopefully the next thing you'll read here is that Brooke is HOME!

Maybe, maybe not Saturday...

The plan for Brooke to come home is still tentatively Saturday, but it's not set in stone. Yesterday they increased her diuretic to see if that helps her with her feedings more. She was started on a very low dose, so they think maybe she just needs a little bit more. As long as that seems to help, she should be coming home Saturday. If not then, then hopefully by Sunday or Monday. She may be going in to a bassinet today, but that's not definite either.

We'll be going down to the hospital Friday around lunch time and then staying overnight with her in one of their "transitional infant care" rooms to make sure that we're comfortable taking care of her and that she eats okay and gains weight. If she doesn't come home Saturday, we don't necessarily have to stay another night with her if we're comfortable taking care of her. Then the day after she comes home, she'll be seen by a home health nurse and then be seen by the pediatrician within a week.

Doug and I went down last night. He fed her her 6:00 bottle. She took a long time taking it and only took 45cc's out of the 70cc's that were in there. Her minimum to take is 90cc's per shift, so that was half of that and not too bad really. She had gotten her first bigger dose of the diuretic with that feeding so hopefully it kicked in and does it's job and she starts eating a little bit better. She's tricky to feed because she burps A LOT (and sounds like a trucker, lol). You can get 3 good, HUGE burps out of her, but she could still have to burp more. And she won't drink anymore if she has to burp. But sometimes, towards the end of a bottle, if she won't drink you don't always know if it's because she has to burp or because she's done, so it can be frustrating. I don't have her weight from last night yet, but hopefully she gained.

Anyway things are pretty much ready for her here at home. The bassinet is set up, the bouncy seat is put together, we have diapers and wipes and bottles and she has tons of clothes. Her carseat is down at the hospital for her to get her carseat test to make sure she can sit in it and not have any problems breathing or anything like that. I'm not real sure when they're doing that.

So that's the update for now! Sorry, no pics!

Still coming home?

On Sunday they took Brooke off the caffeine to see how she did and so far no problems, except her nurse this morning said that last night during one of her feedings she had a couple brady's (heart rate dips). I asked her if this would delay her coming home and she said it shouldn't (????), but they would discuss it in rounds. She also said I guess she was doing so-so with her feedings last night...I guess seeming like she didn't want to eat. And her nurse when I went in last night said she was like that yesterday, too. So I'm not feeling 100% confident at the moment that she is definitely coming home on Saturday. We'll see! I can't wait until she's home, BUT I definitely do not want her coming home if she's not ready! Her nurse may have a nurse practitioner call me after rounds today or I'll just talk to someone when I go down this evening. I'm hoping to get there this afternoon, but not sure if that's going to happen or not. Brooke has also lost a little weight and is at 4lb. 8.1oz. (she was up to 4lb. 8.3oz.).

I'll update as soon as I know anything more!

Here are some pictures!

Someone made Brooke this hat, but it's too small : (. She's going to make her a bigger one...so sweet! I sorta stuffed it on her head to take a pic, lol.

This is how I found her Mother's Day morning, lol. She was all stretched out and had pushed the "bendy" to the bottom of the bed w/her feet and her head was almost to the top of the bed!

My first Mother's Day as a mother of 2! We couldn't take Ryan in because he has ANOTHER cold : P.

These next ones I took last night, without the flash. They turned out so well! She was wide awake. I love these pics : )

I think she was getting hungry and she got her fingers in her mouth and it wasn't what she was expecting! LOL!

Check out the signatures I had made for me (here: VIP Signatures - Home).

(note the "Mommy to early birds"...I love it!)

But this one is my fave!