Funny Ryan story

Ryan tends to accumulate toys on the couch. Yesterday he had some toys and books on there and I told him to clean the couch off. In the meantime, I was getting dinner started. He came out and told me "All clean." and I just peeked in from the kitchen and could see he had put his castle on the end of the couch. I couldn't figure out why he would do that and told him to go put it back where it goes. Doug got home and went in the living room and said, "What in the world?" I walked in and found this:

Whenever I vacuum, I put a lot of the bigger toys on the couch to get them off the floor and Ryan helps me. For some reason that must be what he thought I was going to do. LOL. He put everything back without a fight, though! I just thought it was so cute and funny : ).

***Today's Brooke update is below***

Very soon...

Brooke is going to hit the 4lb. mark! Last night she was 3lb. 13oz. She gained 50 grams, which is almost 2 ounces! She is still getting every other feeding by bottle. Last night I actually got her to take a whole bottle for the first time : ). None of the nurses ever showed me how to feed her before. Her nurse last night did. Brooke actually needs some pressure applied under her chin in order to suck properly and not dribble a ton of milk out of her mouth. (Ryan never had that problem bottlefeeding, but he was older than her when he started.) She let out one heck of a burp when my mom was burping her, lol.

She's getting another transfusion today because she's just not producing those red blood cells fast enough yet.

She hasn't been having any apnea or bradycardia spells (at least not that we've been told of ) and hasn't even been dropping her O2 saturations much : ). She also has not needed oxygen for feedings since Sunday night : ).

It looks like she's going to be heading home right around May 17th or very soon after at this rate! : ) May 17th is our nephew Cameron's 10th birthday! It is also my cousin Hayley's 6th birthday party, so that may be interesting if she does come home on that day! It will all work out, though : ).

Here are a few pictures from last night.

When I dress her to get out, I've been putting her little cloth diapers on her : ). Then when I put her back in her bed, I put her back in a disposable.

Look at that belly!

She's really filling out all over : ).

Funny faces

Brooke is still doing well off the nasal cannula : ). Since yesterday afternoon she hasn't even been needing it during feedings (except when I tried feeding her last night...more about that below)! She now weighs 3lb. 11.3oz. At this rate, she'll be over 6lbs. 'til she comes home. LOL.

I went down last night and got some funny pics...I'll post them at the bottom. I was there for her 8:00 feeding. Again, she was barely awake and not too in to it. She was mostly using the nipple as a pacifier. Then she started dropping her sats...they would go down in to the 70's and then back up in to the 90's. So her nurse put her nasal cannula on her and gave her some flow and a little bit of O2. But by then, Brooke wanted nothing to do with the bottle, so the rest went down her feeding tube. I don't know if it's that time (8:00) or me or what!? LOL.

Now on to the pictures...the funny ones are the close ups of her face ; ). Between the faces she's making in some of them and her nose being squished by the way the feeding tube is and the hat, they're just funny! (Sorry some of these first ones are so dark...#1) our camera sucks sometimes and #2) it's hard to get decent pics through the isolette sometimes!)

Woohoo!

Brooke "ripped her nasal cannula out" yesterday morning around 9 and she's been off it ever since...about 23 hours now, which is longer than she made it the last time : ). It would have been easy enough for them to put back in/on, but they must have felt like giving her another try. Hopefully this time it will stick. She does need a little bit of oxygen for her bottle feedings. She's getting a bottle at every other feeding and doing well with that. Last night she weighed 3lb. 10.6oz.! Nothing else to report : ). I'm hoping to make it down to the NICU tonight!

One month old!

Look how she's grown and changed...

4 days old.

1 month old.

More pics from today.

Pretty in pink!

Trying to catch her eyes open...just wasn't happening!

Finally caught a smile...she smiles all the time, lol. I can't wait until she smiles *for real*.

She's so beautiful :*).

Getting so big/long!

Definitely loves her pacifier! Ryan did, too.

The best part of the day was that Ryan got to go in and see her again! His cough finally went away. This is the first time he's seen her out of her isolette. It was so awesome to see the look in his eyes while he was checking her out. We showed him all her hair and let him feel it. She was making faces and stuck her tongue out and he stuck his out back at her. LOL. He wanted her to come home with us (awwww!). Here's a few pics...I LOVE these : ).

What a proud big brother!

I gave her another bath today and let me tell you, that first bath, she totally faked me out acting like she liked it. LOL. I've given her 2 more since then and she's fussed through both of them : (. Makes me feel like I have to rush, lol. But at least she's clean!

She's still getting 32cc's every 3 hours and is getting at least every other feed in a bottle. Most of the time she finishes the bottle, but not always. She's also still in 1L flow and they said when her prongs come out of her nose, she brady's (heart rate drops) and her sats drop. So she definitely still needs more time with that. Last night she only gained 2 grams, so she's still just under 3lb. 8oz. I imagine she'll gain at least an ounce tonight. We're figuring she'll be about 5lbs. at least until she comes home! They're still figuring it will be in roughly 3 weeks, not too much longer than that. We think she *might have a birth mark (strawberry/hemangioma, maybe) right above her right eye, sort of on her eye lid. You can see it in the close up shot of her face. They're going to keep an eye on it. It's hard to say for sure just yet what it is.

And here are some pictures that I took Friday evening.

Li'l Miss Piggy ; )

Last night Brooke weighed 3lb. 7.6oz.! Her feedings are still at 32cc's every 3 hours and she's doing pretty darn well with a bottle. The plan is for her to get at least one per shift. Yesterday total she had 4 (I got to give her 8pm one) and she finished 3 of them! The one I gave her, she didn't take about 10cc's out of it, so her nurse put the rest down her tube. She was very sleepy and just didn't want to wake up to eat, but she did pretty good. They have her down to 1L flow again....Wednesday she was at 1.5L and then yesterday they turned her down to 1L. Hopefully she can ditch the O2 soon. Or maybe she'll come home on it. She hasn't been having as many "episodes", either, so hopefully she's starting to outgrow them. She'll be 32 weeks gestation tomorrow and could potentially come home in 3 weeks! Here are some pics:

This one is from Wednesday night...I love this sleeper! We got it at the baby shower and actually ended up with one in 0-3 month size, too! : )

Wearing a cloth diaper for the first time!! : )

And of course she pooped in it!

Dressed AND with a bow in her hair...too cute ; ).

Mommy feeding her a bottle for the first time! This stupid thrush I have is almost cleared up so I should be able to try nursing her soon : ).

Eye Exam

Brooke had an eye exam yesterday and everything looked good! Whew! Most of you probably know that Ryan developed Retinopathy of Prematurity (R.O.P. ~ you can google it) while in the NICU, which required a few laser surgeries on his eyes (more in his right than left). In turn, the scar tissue from the surgery caused his right retina to detach, so he is now probably legally blind in his right eye. Brooke should be in the clear from developing this, though.

Last night she weighed in at 3lb. 4.5oz.! Her feedings are now at 32cc's every 3 hours. WOW! I'm not sure if she had a bottle yesterday, but I know her nurse told me a little bit ago that she was going to give her one at her 11am feeding. Doug and I will be going in this evening, but not in time for a feeding : (. Maybe we can give her a bath, though!

Well, I think that's all for now! I should have some new pics to post tomorrow : ).

Wow!

The last I posted about Brooke's feedings, she was getting 18cc's every 2 hours. At that time her nurse told me that she would soon be bumped to every 3 hours. So I think it was Sunday they bumped her to 20cc's every 3 hours. They've been increasing it ever since and she's now at 26cc's every 3 hours and will be going to 28cc's today! She's tolerating her feedings extremely well. Before they give the next feeding, they pull back on her feeding tube to check for leftovers in her tummy so they know if she "ate" it all and she never has anything left! : ) And guess what else! She had her first bottle yesterday! We weren't there for it, though : (...didn't even know she'd be getting one. Oh well. I guess she took about 19cc's and then got the rest (about 5cc's) through her tube. They'll let her try again today. They don't want to push her too much because "nipple feeding" can be very tiring on such a small baby and they don't want her to use up too many calories. But it's good that she's at least getting some practice : ). I'm still fighting this stupid thrush, so I don't know when she'll be able to go to breast : (.

Doug's mom and I went down Sunday afternoon and she finally got to hold her for the first time.

This was after she got done "misbehaving." She dropped her sats and heartrate and then needed some O2 to bring her sats (oxygen levels) back up. The nurse had to take her and really stimulate her to get her going again. So then she was somewhat unwrapped to get her less "comfy". I love this pic : )

Look at her holding on to her pacifier! LOL. She really loves it.

All tucked in. After putting her back to bed, I gave her another bath because not long before we got to the NICU, she had pooped all over the place in her bed, lol. Her little bum has been a little red and they had her on a belly, just laying on a diaper to give her bum so air and I guess she was wiggling around while pooping. LOL. Anyway, she was cold after her bath, so the nurse tucked a warm blanket around her. So cute.

Last night my mom and dad and I went down. My dad finally got to hold her!

Of course, she had an episode while he was holding her and again needed some O2. I just think she gets too comfy when she's all wrapped up snug and being held. The nurse even pulled her hair a little to try to get her to cry and take a deep breath and she wouldn't cry! It's pretty scary seeing your baby turn blue. We saw it happen to Ryan many times when he was on the ventilator, but it's not something you get used to! My dad handed Brooke off to me when he was done holding her and then my mom came back and the little stinker did it again while I had her, but this time she came back up without too much prodding. My mom held her for a little while and she behaved herself.

Check out how well this preemie Carter's outfit fits her lengthwise! No need to cuff the sleeves or ankles!

Before I forget, from Saturday night to Sunday night she went from 3lb. 1.6oz. to 3lb. 1.7oz. Last night she weighed in at 3lb. 3.3oz.! : )

Here are a couple pics I took after she got weighed and was put back in her bed. Of course then she was wide awake!

HUGE hands!

I actually clipped the bow in her hair this time : ). She didn't seem to mind it at all! I only left it in long enough to take the pic.

Next time I go down I'm hoping to finally try one of her preemie cloth diapers on her! Oh, one more thing...Brooke is getting her first eye exam today! Send some extra good thoughts and prayers that everything looks okay!

Hmmm...

I'm not really sure what Brooke's nurse was thinking Friday night when she told Doug on the phone that Brooke was 4 grams over 3lbs. My sister and I went down last night and according to her growth chart she had actually lost weight from the previous night and went from 2lb. 15.8oz. to 2lb. 15.6oz. BUT *last night she weighed in at 3lb. 1.6oz.! Yippee!

She was back down to room air and 1.5L flow last night, but this morning she was back up to 2L flow (still room air) because she was having a lot of "episodes" during the night. Nothing they're worried about, though!

I took along the outfit that my sister got her (in the "Gifts" post it's the one piece preemie outfit that's white and has the red and blue stars and cupcake on it). It fit her PERFECTLY! I couldn't believe it! I didn't have to roll the sleeves or cuff the ankles. WOW. We found out last night that as of Tuesday night (that's the night the babies get measured), she is 15 3/4 inches! She's grown 3/4 of an inch already! And I can really tell she's starting to fill out.

She's 3.5 weeks old already and it's flown by. She's going to be home in NO time!

P.S. I forgot my camera last night, so no pics : (

Just not ready yet (edited)

Brooke pooped out sometime during the night and is back on the nasal cannula, currently 2L flow at 23% oxygen. She started having a lot of heart rate dips and was forgetting to breathe more often. Oh well, she gave it her all! ; ) Hopefully it won't be toooo much longer until she can come off and stay off. It took Ryan a couple tries to ditch the ventilator, so we're not too surprised Brooke didn't make it on her first try off the nasal cannula, either.

Other than that, she's still doing great : ).

*edited*

Shame on me! I forgot to say that she is now 4 grams above 3lbs.! AND last night they moved her over to the "other side" of the NICU where the bigger babies are! : )

What's missing...

...from this picture?

We got down to the NICU about 11:30 this morning and found out that they had taken Brooke off the nasal cannula (around 10:30)! I guess her nose was getting pretty dried out and they decided to let her try to go without it. She was doing well while we were there...hopefully she won't need it again! : )

Last night Li'l Missy Piggy weighed in at 2lb. 15.8oz.! Two tenths of an ounce away from 3lbs.! She should hit 3lbs. tonight : D. Her feedings were increased to 18cc's every 2 hours today. And her nurse said that soon they'll be moving her to every 3 hours instead of every 2.

Today I gave her a bath for the first time. Monday I got a demo on how to do it, so I knew how : ). She seems to enjoy baths, for now anyway. She doesn't fuss or cry at all! Check it out (Doug took these):

After her bath, we got her out to hold her for a little while. I took a picture of her in her sleeper (one of the preemie ones we got at the shower) and hat after I put her back in. I can't believe how much she was filling it out length-wise....her feet were almost to the end of it! She's SO long!

She was laying there so comfy and sound asleep and then I had to bother her to undress her, lol. She went right back to sleep, though.

And here's another funny hat pic from yesterday! I love it! LOL.

Gifts

*This is my 2nd post for today, so be sure to scroll down for a Brooke update/pics if you haven't already : ).*

I decided to post some pics of some of the gifts Brooke has received so far! Some are from the baby shower and others came in the mail from online friends!

Aren't these precious? They're "homemade" (not by me). These were bought for Brooke by someone on the Cloth Diaper board. The white one has her name embroidered on it. So cute! They were bought from http://www.lindasbabyanddollbonnets.com/. Ironically, the lady who makes them lives less than an hour from me!

Preemie All-In-One cloth diapers (from http://www.primmnproperbaby.com/)! You can't tell by the pic, but they're so tiny. They're supposed to fit babies 3-6lbs. The insides are SO, SO soft! These are from a group of moms from the Cloth Diaper board (one is the same as the above mentioned mom). Brooke will be allowed to wear these in the NICU! (At least while we are there visiting, anyway.)

Another lady on the CD board made this hat. It's soo soft! And I just love the colors : ). She also sent Brooke a onesie and 2 little flannel blankets to lay on that she made herself!

Now the rest are all things that we received at the shower!

Bumkins bibs...these are really nice!

And "matching" cloth diapers! LOL. (Bumkins All In Ones)

Thirsties Pocket All In One

Two newborn Proraps and a Bummis Super Brite (these are diaper covers).

Preemie sleepers.

Preemie one pieces.

Preemie Gymboree outfit

Gymboree dress, size 6-12mos...I'm hoping this fits for Easter next year! : )

Homemade blanket by one of Doug's aunts. It's so soft!

Homemade blanket by another of Doug's aunts. She also made these...

There's also matching booties, but I didn't get a pic of those for some reason!

This is only a "sampling" of what we've received, but I thought it would be fun to post some pics! : ) I do want to take pics of some of the pages in the scrapbook so you all can see just how awesome it is! : )