8/31/13 – I’ll take an order of breast please

Olivia is doing well; yesterday (Friday) she was able to take 7 cc’s of milk from the bottle.  I am glad she is able to take something at all.  She did well during the day and we visited her that evening, staying a bit late.  Today (Saturday), we went to visit during the afternoon.  While talking to her nurse, she suggested we try to give Olivia the breast to see how she does with it.  She went and got the go ahead and we tried; she did great for her first time! She knew what to do and went for it.  She did take a bit on each breast and seemed comfortable.  We came back after shift change and tried again during her next feeding, she did okay this time.  She choked a bit, but was able to feed for 7 minutes.  We did feed her the rest through the tube, both times.  I’m so excited, I hope she is able to get it soon.  

8/29/13 – Weekly Anxiety

We had another eye exam today.  These are starting to take a toll on me, the anxiety build up every Wednesday seems to get worse as the weeks progress.  Today, I arrived to the hospital in the morning and was able to talk to the speech therapist who was finishing up with Olivia.  She had 2 interns with her so she is able to see more babies.  When she doesn’t have interns, she is not always able to see each baby every day. Olivia did not take any milk from the bottle today.  Later on in the morning Dr. G came by for the eye exam, Olivia seemed to cry a bit more than usual to me.  Everything is exactly the same with her eyes… He wants to continue keeping a watch on it to see if they will improve on their own.  I just wish they would heal already so we don’t have to continue doing this each week.  After the exam I held her and it helped calm her down, she slept for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.  After visiting her for most of the day I went home to cook dinner.  Junior and I went back to the hospital after dinner and continued loving on her.  The nutritionist increased her feeds again to 43 cc’s each time.  As she continues to grow, they will increase her feeds.  And grow she does; tonight’s weight is 5 pounds and 2 ounces.  She is also starting to fill in her clothes a little bit, she already outgrew 3 of her preemie outfits, now she is on newborn.  I love dressing her in different outfits, she is so adorable. 

8/28/13 – My First Trip

Olivia left the NICU for the first time today.  She went downstairs to get the barium swallow x-ray.  As I mentioned yesterday we made sure she had a cute outfit on for the special occasion.  For some reason I thought the appointment was in the morning, but when I called at 11 to check in, I was told it was at 1.  So I called back later in the afternoon and was told that she did okay; she LOVED the attention from all the people.  Nurse S told me she was looking around and just enjoying all of it.  She also mentioned that everyone loved her outfit and was asking if she dressed for the occasion lol.  The results are not in officially yet but the speech therapist said it seems like everything is working correctly.  Which means it is just a sensory issue with her.  With such a big day, Olivia was very tired when we went in to visit her.  She stayed sleeping, probably opening her eyes twice.  Regardless, I read two books to her while daddy held her.  She gained another ounce, putting her at 5 pounds and 1 ounce.  Tomorrow is her eye exam and I will be there for it; I’ve been praying all week and I know many of you have been as well.  We truly appreciate it, we know the power of prayer. 

8/27/13 – Lullaby and good night

It’s support group day, and I was really excited to go this week.  I missed last week and I had quite a few things to add to my scrapbook.  Before support group started I went to visit Olivia, she was wide awake.  I’m so glad she is more awake during the day instead of the night.  This morning she had pictures done of her eyes in preparation for the exam on Thursday.  She was fed right after the exam and her body did not agree with having both things done.  She threw up over half of her feed and she stopped breathing for a little bit, Nurse L had to take out the bag to give her some air.  She did much better for the rest of the day with Nurse L.  I held her for a bit and told her about my day, then I changed her diaper and started feeding her.  For some reason she had a Brady in the beginning of her feed and nurse L had to bring the bag out again to give her oxygen.  It was strange, but she was fine for the rest of the feed.

 

I got to the support group and was able to meet 2 new moms and hear their stories.  I also put together another 4 or 5 pages into the scrap book.  I need to reorganize it and put it into chronological order.  Junior arrived to the support group and joined in the fun.  We also received a small surprise when we got there, a local church put together nice little gift bags for the NICU babies, it included a bag of diapers, wipes and receiving blankets.  It was such a nice surprise and the blankets were really cute.  After the support group we ate dinner and headed back to see Olivia.  During her weigh in we found out she is now 5 pounds! Such an amazing weight to reach, I have a 5 pound baby!  So the other day I was reminding myself how I have to download these lullaby CDs I have so I can play it for Olivia.  That got me wondering, does Pandora have a lullaby station?  They sure do! So I added the station and began playing it for Olivia before her feeding time, boy did she love that.  Usually she is very fussy right before feeding time, but she was relaxed and even fell asleep!  Thank you Baby lullaby station.

Tomorrow she will get the barium swallow (the X-ray to check and see what is going on with her swallowing) and hopefully we will get some answers.  We made sure she had a cute outfit on since this will be her first time leaving the NICU.  She is wearing her blue polkadot onesie with the pink flowers, I think the X-ray technician will be impressed lol.  I believe that is all the updates I have for now, until next time America ;-)

8/26/13 – Irritable

Hello all, Olivia is doing very well on room air without the nasal cannula assistance.  She didn’t even get a little boost anymore after her feeds and did well.  When I spoke to the morning nurse, she informed me that Olivia didn’t do so well with the speech therapy.  She did not give me a detailed explanation but I will contact the speech pathologist for that.  They did set the barium swallow for Wednesday, a primary nurse will be there with her. By the time we arrived to see her tonight she was already cleaned and ready for feeds.  Nurse L is back from vacation J so she got everything ready for us to just feed Olivia.  She was very ready to eat, acting irritable; not wanting to stay still and crying.  During the feeds she was sucking on the pacifier like crazy, too bad that doesn’t necessarily translate to her sucking and swallowing on the bottle.  After her belly was full, she calmed down a bit.  During the weigh in she went up yet again, placing her at 4 pounds and 15 ounces, just shy of 5 full pounds

8/25/13 – Bath time

Since Olivia has been off of the nasal cannula, her primary nurse decided not to bath her for the first 2 days to give her a fighting chance.  So today was bath day! Good thing because she was stinky; we told her she could not be the stinky baby in the NICU.  We go there earlier than usual and she was very cranky.  Nurse S said this is how she is every morning, she is not a morning person… FANTASTIC… ugh hopefully we can somehow change that.  Nurse S asked if we’ve bathed her by ourselves yet, and we told her no.  She informed us that today was the day, so she gave us everything we needed and went to take care of her other baby.  Junior and I got to bath Olivia and boy, was she mad.  She does not like bathing at all.  But when it was time for us to wash her hair, she was in heaven.  She absolutely loves getting her hair washed and dried, her face was priceless.  After her bath, we feed her and held her a little longer.  Then we left, informing nurse S that we will not be coming in that night but will call in before going to bed.  We went home and ran some errands.  Afterwards, we were talking about how we would like to see her again and since Junior is done with school we were able to.  We went back to the hospital to visit her and she was sound asleep.  We changed her diaper and weighed her, she gained another ounce, putting her at 4 pounds and 13 ounces.  She is doing so well, so many blessings keep coming our way.  I love that little girl.  

8/24/13 – A picture is worth a thousand words

Olivia is doing well on room air, she looks so good without the nasal cannula.  They do place the cannula on her for a bit right after she eats since she has a tendency of d-satting after feeds.  Other than that, no major changes for her.  Junior and I would like to share our Olivia with you, enjoy J

8/24/13 – 100 days

Today marks 100 days since Livvy was born and has been in the NICU.  She had a great day today; I called Nurse S to check in on her in the afternoon.  She informed me that Olivia was doing well and that they took off her nasal cannula! They took it off at 11 am and kept it near the bed to test it out.  When I called at 2:30, she was doing really well.  Nurse S said she was “Loving life” with that off of her face.  She also said she stopped trying to pull out the feeding tube (she has been pulling it out at least 2 times a day).  I decided not to tell Junior so it could be a surprise when he sees her at night.  When we went to visit her he was so happy to see her without the nasal cannula.  She looks so good without all that stuff on her face.  She also did very well with her speech therapist today.  When the therapist let her swallow some milk, she did not d-sat at all.  This is a very good sign.  The therapist stated she may not need to get the barium swallow next week if she continues to do well.  Livvy gained another ounce tonight as well, putting her at 4 pounds and 11 ounces!  God is always good.  We are taking it one step at a time with Him leading the way. 

8/22/13 – Prayer Warriors; one more week

Junior and I arrived at the hospital early in the morning.  We were able to meet the speech therapists who gave us a great explanation of what she plans on doing for Livvy.  It was the same information Nurse S gave me yesterday but she went into more detail.  The barium swallow will more than likely be done mid next week.  I told her I would feel more comfortable if one of her primary nurses was there, so she mentioned she would keep that in mind when scheduling.  I explained the reason I felt this way is because they know her and would know when something is wrong quicker.  She agreed with me.  Olivia’s eye exam was done after this, she does not like this exam at all.  I wouldn’t either, luckily it is quick.  Junior and I didn’t watch but we stayed by the bedside facing the other way.  Dr. G informed us that her eyes did deteriorate but he wants to give it another week to see if she corrects it herself before doing the laser surgery.  With that said, prayer warriors, we have a week!  I’ve sent text messages to several of you and I know you’ve been praying throughout the day along with me and we truly appreciate it.  God has shown us miracle after miracle with Olivia, we are asking Him for another.  Please Lord, heal her eyes completely so she will not need surgery. 

^“2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James 1: 2-4

8/21/13 – Positive Association

Olivia is still having problems drinking from the bottle.  So much so, they brought in a speech therapist for a consult.  The speech therapist recommended we stop trying to feed her with the bottle because she was afraid of aspiration.  Olivia has a negative association with nippling so the therapist is going to start daily therapy of positive association.  She will put milk on the pacifier and let Olivia play with it for a while.  This way Olivia can become comfortable with it.  She is also going to do a barium swallow which is an x-ray as she is swallowing.  This way they can see what is going on inside.  While I was working I received a phone call from the hospital but did not notice my phone ring so it went to voice mail.  When I checked the message it was a nurse letting me know she spoke to Dr. G (eye doc) about the pictures they took yesterday of Livvy’s eyes.  Dr. G would like us to be at the hospital for the exam today.  Junior and I will both be there.  During our nightly touch time, Livvy was very active.  She is smiling more, moving her head around trying to see what’s going on.  She has 3 new neighbors as well, they seem to be full term so they will more than likely go home soon; or at least I hope so, for the sake of the parents.  Tonight’s weigh in proved that Olivia is going to get to 5 pounds very fast.  She weighed 4 pounds and 10 ounces! It is so nice to see her growing into a full size baby ;-).  I can’t wait until they decide to take her off of the nasal cannula, then we will be able to see her pretty face without as much obstruction (only the feeding tube would be left).  Please pray for a miracle on Olivia’s eyes.  Pray that God heals her eyes completely and no exam is necessary.  Thank you.

8/20/13 – Increased feeds

Good morning, there is not much to report for yesterday. Olivia is doing well, she had a good day.  They increased her feeds to 38 cc’s per feeding.  She is such a cutie pie; she was wide awake during our touch time and was crying because she was hungry.  That last part she gets from me J No luck with the bottle feeding yesterday, she didn’t take anything.  One day at a time, she will figure it out. Her nightly weigh in showed she gained another 15 grams, putting her closer to 4.8 pounds, but just barely making it.  She is 4.78. It is amazing to see how much she has grown in the past 3 months.  Soon enough she will be home with us. 

8/19/13 – I’m pooped

During my daily afternoon call I spoke with Nurse H to check on Olivia.  He told me she had a big brady when he started his shift.  He also mentioned that she had a very big bowel movement; which is good because she hadn’t gone in the past 2 days.  Other than the brady, she was having a good day.  I asked him to go ahead and try to feed her the bottle at 3 pm and I would call him later to check on the progress.  I called a bit later to check on the bottle feeding and she didn’t do well.  He was unable to get her to take anything today; it’s okay, we will try again tomorrow.  It is a lot of work for her, one day she will figure it out and then there will be no stopping her!  Junior and I went to visit Livvy after dinner and when we got there she was sleeping, as soon as we took her out of the swaddle to take her temperature she woke up.  The first thing I noticed when I took her out of the swaddle was a very distinct smell… I unclipped her onsie and boy, did she have a present for us.  It was all over her and her onsie; this called for a bath.  We took off the onsie and placed her on the scale to weigh her before we bathed her.  She went up 25 grams putting her at 4 pounds and 7 ounces.  She does not like the bath (only the hair washing part) so we were quick.  We made sure to dry her very well so she doesn’t get cold.  She got a new outfit to show off to her neighbors; including Oliver her male name partner who is now right next to her.  Mommy held her during the feeding and daddy held her after.  We read her a good book as well.  She did well while we were holding her but had a bit of acid reflux which caused a brady, but nothing too bad.  She then fell right to sleep and smiled as she was drifting off to dreamland.  

8/18/13 – Decals are up!

We were finally able to put the decals up in Olivia’s room.  They look a lot better than I expected them to.  I knew they would look nice, but they look magnificent against the light green paint.  We had 3 sets of decals ordered from 3 different websites and they all came together perfectly.  The crib was ordered and it should arrive next weekend; we can then put that together and finish up her room.  She had a good Saturday during the day, she gained some more weight as well.  She was 4 lbs and 4 and a half ounces.  During the evening she had a bad d-sat because of her acid reflux.  They decided to put her on acid reflux medication to help.  She had a good day Sunday as well.  We tried to feed her the bottle but she didn’t take it too well.  She got about 4-5 cc’s from it, but doesn’t have the coordination down yet.  We called to get an update before going to bed and Olivia’s primary Nurse L was there.  We had a great conversation with her about this adorable owl she made for us with another nurse (pictured below).  She is going on a very well deserved vacation so we will not see her for a week.  Olivia was doing very well and she gained more weight, she is now 4 pounds and 6 ounces! I love it! Each day she is continuing to grow and improve.  God has given us such a blessing, I know I say that often but it is true.  He continues to work miracles daily and I am reminded of that with Olivia.  Also, two of Olivia’s neighbors got to go home today!  It is so nice to see them go home with their baby.  Our turn will come soon enough.

P.S. The doctor had not written the script for the acid reflux medication so she has not started it yet.

8/16/13 – What is closed?

The hospital has a few places that are open 24 hours; they include McDonalds (vomit), Subway and Starbucks.  This is extremely helpful for the night nurses because they are able to grab something to eat and get coffee to keep themselves awake, if needed.  Last night Junior and I walked into the hospital and the first thing we noticed was the door for Starbucks was closed… Junior walked up to the door to read the sign and it said it was closed for much needed renovation.  This was a bit confusing because it is a really nice Starbucks, but I guess everything can always use some improvement.  We went up to the NICU and saw the receptionist that usually works days.  She is picking up some OT and it is her first night shift; we talked about how it is crazy that Starbucks was closed.  We went back to see Olivia and as we were heading back we saw a nurse rolling her crib away from her spot.  We jokingly asked why she was stealing our baby.  Then I said well I guess it’s okay since she had a badge. We went to our new spot which was one row closer to the exit door and on the other side of the room.  Our neighbors are loud lol.  Well some of the babies at least, they are bigger and want more attention so they cry a lot.  Then there was a new mom there who has a stank attitude and made some snide comments to one of the nurses AFTER she left.  I love people who like to pretend to be “hard” and talk smack behind people’s backs.  Anyway, she picked up her phone and was talking to someone while she was holding her baby which is unsanitary, but it’s her child so… Olivia was awake when we got there, she was looking around like “um, where have you been?! I’ve been waiting for you.” We were late and missed touch time, (we called and let Nurse E know).  Even though we missed touch time we are still able to hold her once we get there.  She was stating very well and was very relaxed.  We asked Nurse E if she put up a fight during touch time and she said no; this is not like Olivia.  I’ll ask the nurse tomorrow if she puts up a fight, if not I will mention that it’s not like her.  We read her a story and prayed over her. 

During our visit we heard some of the nurses talking about Starbucks being closed.  We left around 11 and were on our way out when we decided to stop by a Starbucks and pick up coffee for the staff.  We went to the one down the street and they closed at 10.  We searched for other 24 hour ones and could not find any.  We ended up going to Dunkin Donuts and buying 2 box o’ joe’s and headed back to the NICU.  When we asked to get buzzed in I could hear in the receptionist voice she was wondering why we were back so soon.  We walked in and gave her the coffee for everyone.  She was so excited and appreciative.  The nurses up front were very happy as well.  Then we headed our merry way home.  

8/15/13 – 3 months old

Today Olivia hits 3 months in her life and oh what a life it has been.  It has been so surreal, the first thing I was going to write is “I cannot believe she is 3 months already” but on the other hand, yes, yes I can.  These last 3 months have been tough and long.  She has come such a long way and has so much potential in her.  Today she had the follow up eye exam, there were no significant changes.  Dr. G will continue with the weekly follow ups.  We really need for eyes to start improving.  Olivia handled this weeks exam much different than she did last week.  Nurse S said she did not have a big Brady after the exam.  Nurse S even tried to bottle feed her after and Olivia drank 10 cc’s, yes she sucked and swallowed all 10 cc’s! This is such a wonderful thing, I am so excited.  Hopefully she will continue on that trend.  Junior and I got there and she was already awake and ready for our visit.  We prayed over her and then began her touch time.  Her temperature is still good and she had a wet diaper.  Nurse L came to take her measurements and listen to her and decided she needed a bath.  She was stinky ;-) But before bath time it was time to weigh her.  Tonight she weighs a whopping 4.3 lbs!

While Olivia did not like the bath, she LOVED getting her hair washed.  She gets so cozy and relaxed.  After her bath we took a few 3 month pictures with some blocks that I purchased for her.  We also read her some new books I purchased, one is a classic that is not printed anymore named “We were tired of living in a house” and the other is “Oh the places you’ll go.”  Both were entertaining, I believe she enjoyed them.  I can’t wait until I can read to her and show her the pictures in the book as well. All in all, today was a good day. 

8/14/13 – Take Two

Olivia had another good day.  Her oxygen stayed at 21 % with the occasional need to increase it after feedings due to her acid reflux.  Hopefully she will continue to do well and they take her off of the nasal cannula.  Olivia’s nurses switched during the day because of census in other areas of the NICU.  So I am not sure how she did with eating from the bottle, but I will find out tomorrow. Olivia also gained 30 grams, putting her back at 4 pounds, but closer to 4.1.  Please continue praying for her eyes, tomorrow is another follow up exam and those are tough on her.  Pray that her eyes are healed, pray that the exams can be extended to bi-weekly or longer because of the improvement in them.  Also pray for the other babies in the NICU. Thank you

In addition to Olivia’s weight gain, the doctors decided to put her back into progressive care.  Let’s see how it goes this time =o)

8/13/13 – Needy

Olivia had her pre-eye exam pictures completed today.  They went back to the other eye drops and she did better than last week.  She had two brady’s but they weren’t very big.  When I go there before support group she was good, she woke up and was her feisty self.  After support group she was very needy, she just wanted to be held.  I tried changing her diaper and she kept crying, so I held her.  Each time I tried, she kept crying.  It took me a bit to change her and put on her cute new outfit.  When we weighed her she lost 5 grams and that put her at 3.15 lbs.  By the time I was leaving she was comfortable and sleeping in her nice crib.  

8/12/13 – Oink Oink

I called into check on Olivia in the afternoon, as I normally do, and Nurse S informed me they were putting her back on the nasal cannula with 2 liters of oxygen a day.  We are getting back to where we were before her episode.  In addition, they increased her feeds to 32 cc’s every 3 hours.  That is a little over an ounce.  Nurse S tried feeding her with the bottle again today.  She has the sucking down, but she cannot swallow.  She got about 5 cc’s but she just lets it dribble down her chin.  She just needs to figure out the swallowing thing and we are in business! 

We got to the hospital and began our hands on with her.  The first thing I noticed was the diaper she had on, they were different.  She is now in preemie diapers! Yes, they are still a little big, but the fact that they are even using it is wonderful.  We weighed her and she hit 4 lbs! She was 3 lbs just 16 days ago; it took her 24 days to hit 3 lbs from 2. Things are going much faster now. 

One thing that I’ve noticed is the amount of laundry I’ve been doing for her.  I’ve been warned of the laundry with children and now I am witnessing it and she is not even home yet.  It is a good thing the water bill is paid by the community ;-). 

8/11/13 – Open crib

Olivia is doing very well.  She was put in an open crib today! Let’s pray she keeps her temperature well so she can stay in it.  Nurse S tried feeding her with the bottle again today and she did get 5 cc’s but she is still having trouble swallowing.  She keeps the milk in her mouth and doesn’t know what to do with it just yet.  She will get the hang of it soon enough.  Tonight she weighed 3 lbs 14 ounces :-)

8/10/13 – Improvement

All of the tests they ran on Olivia came back negative.  They believe the issue was the eye exam, it was too much on her.  Her primary nurse noticed a change in her after she received the eye drops.  Since she is older, she received the eye drops for the babies in her age group.  On Tuesday she had the retina pictures taken and nurse S noticed she began d-sating after the drops.  Thursday, the drops in combination with the actual exam were just too much for her.  Yesterday, she began improving and becoming herself again.  She is still on the c-pap but does not need extra help with oxygen.  Today nurse H turned off the temperature of the bed and is letting her hold her own temperature again.  If she is still doing well holding her temperature, they will move her to a crib tomorrow afternoon.  Now that Junior is completely done with school (other than the pot-luck) we stayed and visited Olivia for a while.  She was so wide awake towards the end of the visit; she is a night baby… Hopefully that changes before she comes home, mommy loves her sleep lol.  Olivia was also moved back to acute extension, her neighbor was happy to see us back.  It is so much fun changing her into different outfits.  Today we put on a cute preemie outfit and it fits her perfectly, I don’t think it will fit her by next week at the rate she is growing.  Tonight she weighed 3 lbs and 13 ounces.  That is 3 ounces away from 4 pounds! (in case you suck at math tee hee)  We are almost ready for her at home, I put together her bassinet and organized her room.  Next weekend we will receive the crib and we will put up her décor.  It should be a fun weekend.  

8/8/13 – Two steps forward and two steps back…

What a day, it began with me getting mad at my alarm for waking me up ;-).  I was excited to call the hospital later on that morning to find out if Olivia was in her crib yet.  When I called Nurse S mentioned that she was having brady cardia’s after her eye exam and that they sent some blood for testing to see if she has an infection.  The eye doctor was extremely busy today so he didn’t have a chance to call us.  He will more than likely call us tomorrow or Monday.  Nurse S suggested I call later in the afternoon to get the preliminary results of the blood test.  The culture results take 24 hours so we will get that tomorrow.  Before I could call her back she calls me; at first I thought maybe the results came in and she had a free moment to call me.  Then I heard her voice, so I asked what was wrong right away.  Olivia is back in acute, she was having way to many brady cardia’s and she needs more attention.  Progressive nurses have more babies per day than the acute nurses.  They also had to put Olivia back on the cpap to help her breath more.  This was very disheartening but we were told from the beginning this will be a roller coaster ride, this is just a dip we have to get through.  I know she will be back in progressive soon enough.  I rather her go through all of this while in the care of these wonderful doctors and nurses then in my home.  Junior and I decided to go straight to the hospital after work.  Olivia looks exhausted, she had a very rough day.  We spoke with the doctor and nurse and they said they believe this may be a result of the eye exam.  We will wait until the culture exam comes back and go from there.  He did not start her on antibiotics just yet.  He did, however, stop her feeds and begin and IV drip for fluids to give her the nutrition she needs.  She dropped 5 grams today, but that is to be expected when they stop the feeds.  It is one day at a time, today happened to be one of those days.  We will keep pressing forward knowing that God’s plan is always best for us. 

8/7/13 – I’m sorry, can you repeat that?

Throughout the day I would randomly smile thinking about how I get to see Olivia again today.  While it may only have been two days since I’ve last seen her, it was two days too many.  As soon as work was done, I bolted out of the office and headed towards the hospital.  I scrubbed in and went straight to Olivia, didn’t chit chat too much with the lovely receptionist, which I normally do.  She asked me how I was feeling and I said much better, thank you for asking and headed back lol.  Olivia looks so much bigger to me, it’s amazing.  She is 4 ounces heavier than the last time I saw her, tonight she weighed 3 lbs and 10 ounces.  It seems as if this next pound is going to come so much quicker.  Nurse A had her today, I changed Olivia’s diaper and cleaned her up then held her until it was feeding time.  Nurse A went to get her milk and warm it up.  As we were talking she mentioned that they were moving Olivia to progressive today… Did I hear that right?  I’m sorry can you repeat that? THEY ARE MOVING OLIVIA TO PROGRESSIVE TODAY!!!!!!!  Excuse the extra exclamation points, but that is how excited I am.  I was there holding Olivia thinking about how I need to call Junior to tell him, but he was in class and I was holding Olivia (every time we use our phone we have to sanitize and I can’t do that while holding her).  I fed Olivia, she is still eating through the tube, and Nurse A along with a few other nurses began moving all of her stuff to her new home.  While it was only one isle away it was a wonderful move.  I held her until they kicked me out for shift change.  During shift change I went into the mother’s corner to pump and eat.  At this time I called Junior to tell him the wonderful news, he was so excited.  Not only did Livvy graduate to progressive, he is pretty much done with his master’s program! All he has left is a dinner next week, I will be joining him as well.  I came back out and changed Olivia’s diaper again and held her until eating time which was 9pm.  What a wonderful day all around.  Please continue praying for Livvy’s eyes, she has an exam tomorrow.  Also pray that she does well in progressive and that she does not have to be moved back to acute.  Thank you all for your continued prayer and support, we truly appreciate it.

P.S. Nurse A informed me she would send a text to Nurse H and S (Livvy’s day primaries) to tell them the great news.  I also sent an email to Nurse L (her night primary) to inform her.  

8/6/13 – Wonderful Women

After work I was ready to head over to see Olivia because I was feeling much better.  Right before I left my throat started feeling itchy again… ugh.  I decided not to go again today and just wait until tomorrow.  I headed home to eat dinner then I went to a women’s bible conference.  My friend was one of the speaker and it was wonderful to see her teach in this setting.  The three women who spoke were amazing and God used them in such a special way.  The stories they shared were inspiring and it reconfirmed many things for me.  It also allowed me to realize certain things I need to do in my life in order to continue to be strong for Olivia.  Junior went to visit her tonight and he said she was very active.  She gained another ounce, putting her at 3 lbs and 9 oz.  It seems like the weight is just coming along much faster this time around.  She has not nippled since Monday and hopefully will start again on Thursday when Nurse S is there.  Junior took video for me as well which I appreciated very much.  So, after tomorrow Junior is technically done with all of his course work for school! Next week is just a final get together.  I am beyond proud of this man; the struggles we’ve gone through in the past 12 weeks have been tough.  Add completing your master’s degree on top of that and it is simply amazing what he has accomplished.  While he will complete his course, the actual graduation isn’t until December.  Olivia will be there with me cheering him on as he crosses that stage, it will be so much fun! 

8/5/13 – Missing you

What a busy weekend! We painted 2 walls of Olivia’s room, put together the smaller desk, and took the larger extremely heavy desk out, went to Xtreme Body Upgrade’s re-grand opening and went to visit Olivia each day.  I may have overdone it because I woke up with an itchy throat.  I saw the nurse practitioner at work and she said I have a cold but it is not bad enough for antibiotics.  She said to rest, take my prenatal vitamin and drink OJ.  I called to get an update on Olivia, Nurse S tried to feed her with the bottle today to see if she had better luck.  She did not, her heart rate kept dropping low.  She suggests we wait a few days before we try again.  I mentioned to her that I had an itchy throat and asked if I can go and wear a mask.  She told me to stay home; any virus can be detrimental to her.  L This is the first time I haven’t seen Olivia in 82 days; I know it’s best for her.  Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.  She was still 3.6 lbs last night but did gain a few ounces.  Junior went to the hospital tonight and spent time with Livvy.  Hopefully I will be able to see her tomorrow. 

8/3/13 – Nippling

Yesterday Olivia began drinking from the bottle! They call it nippling and the doctor has her doing it once a day for now.  They warned me that she may not get it right away and she may choke a bit.  It can be difficult for preemies to suck, swallow and breath all at the same time.  Nurse L did it for the first time and Olivia did choke a bit and her heart rate went down.  But it came back up, we tried for about half an hour and she got maybe 1 cc from the bottle.  We fed her the rest through the tube.  Since she is a preemie, we have to feed her almost sitting up and holding her neck from the back. With my other hand I hold the bottle and her chin to help her close her mouth.  She fights back and doesn’t want to work for her food but she will learn.  Last night she weighed 3.4 lbs and she was doing well on the nasal cannula.  Nurse S noticed during the day shift that Olivia D-sats during the hour after feedings.  This is a sign of acid reflux.  They are now laying her on a bigger incline to help. 

Today, we painted Olivia’s room.  We have to wait 2 weeks before putting on the decals… When we went to visit her today she was already weighed during the day shift.  She weighs 3.6 ounces today! She gained 2 ounces in a day.  She also did much better with the bottle feeding than she did last night.  She got about 5 cc’s this time around.  Tomorrow daddy will feed her, hopefully she will do even better. 

8/1/13 – Two for One

I did not get a chance to write my post yesterday so today you get a “twopher!”  First I will start with a funny story about yesterday’s visit.  When I arrived to the NICU floor I noticed an older gentleman standing in front of the NICU doors, but he was not pressing the button, just looking around the door.  He saw me head that way so he walked away, so I get buzzed in and he tries to get in behind me.  I stopped the door with my foot and blocked the opening with my body.  I pointed to the intercom and said, they have to let you in, I’m not letting you in.  I found it strange that he would hang out in front of the door without getting buzzed in.  He showed me his parent pass and as he was doing that, the receptionist said “It’s okay mommy, he can come in.”  She saw me pointing out of the door and saying something on the surveillance camera.  Next time maybe he will get himself buzzed in ;-) Olivia did not have her clothes on when I went in.  She was not ready for it yet so they took it off and were giving her another day.  When I got there she had a very high heart rate and did not do well with kangaroo time.  Her high heart rate was reminiscent of the previous incident with the blood infection.  That evening Nurse L requested some cultures to make sure everything is okay and the tests came back clean.  Olivia could be getting back to herself after the vaccinations she received earlier in the week.  When Nurse L weighed her at night she was 3.4 lbs! I have a feeling Olivia is about to have a big growth spurt. 

Thursday: Olivia had her eye exam today; Dr. G’s colleague covered while he was on vacation.  There was no change in Olivia’s eyes so she will get another exam next week.  Nurse L began taking Olivia off of the assisted temperature change last night and Nurse S said she was doing well with it.  She is back to wearing clothes as well.  During my call with Nurse S, she told me they were going to put Olivia on the smaller nasal cannula this afternoon.  This one will not have constant pressure, instead it will just give puffs of air every so often.  When we got there to visit I noticed Olivia’s feeding tube seemed a bit thicker. Nurse N confirmed that she has a bigger tube.  This is preparing her for the bottle feeding since she will get a bigger amount of food at a time.  We decided to feed her during kangaroo time.  I don’t know if it was a combination of the dressing and undressing, or the kangaroo and the feeding from a bigger tube or what, but Olivia kept d-stating during her feed.  I had to make sure the feed was going slower and she was fine.  She did lose a bit of weight today, just 20 grams, but it could be because she is now getting weighed on the big girl scale.  She has had many good things happen this week and we thank God for each and every one.