Big baby

So I figured if I utilize the blogger app instead of typing up each post in my lap top, I'd be inclined to post more often. Olivia woke up tonight wanted to be fed; I walked into her room to pick her up and noticed just how big she has gotten. I'm not sure what it is but she looks huge to me now. Today she had her synagis shot, which she loved :-/. We also weighed her and she is up to 9 lbs! She recovered from the shot rather quickly, she just needs comforting for a bit afterwards. 

We received her little chair in the mail today, this helps promote her sitting up on her own. At first she loved it, then... Not so much lol. But she may have just been hungry so I will try again today. 

November update

First off, let me start by apologizing for not keeping up the blog.  I’ve been very busy and have not made time to do so.  A lot has happened in the past month in a half and I am sure I will miss a few things.  Once Olivia came home, we had many doctors’ appointments to go to.  The first appointment we went to was to the pediatrician, the first one we met was okay but we decided to take a different route and found a holistic Pediatrician and she is wonderful.  We feel more in charge of Olivia’s wellbeing instead of feeling as if it is being dictated.  About two weeks after she was home, I brought her to the Florida early steps program for her evaluation.  They were impressed with how well she is doing and how she came home free of medical equipment and medication.  They recommended Olivia get physical therapy once a week so she can eventually catch up to her age.  The doctor also stated she should get occupational therapy but did not want Olivia out and about that often so she said we will start with the physical therapy only.  The first appointment went great and her therapist is fantastic at what he does.  He was also impressed with Olivia’s ability considering her prematurity.  He said he only needs to see her once a month!  He also gave me tips and tricks to do at home with her to help her mobility. 

Another doctor we went to was the cardiologist; he was also impressed with Olivia’s progression and how she came home free of everything.  Her echo scans came back great and he doesn’t have to see her for another year and if it is clear then she will not have to go back.  Olivia has been getting her synigis shot each month which prevents RSV which is very dangerous for babies.  She has stayed healthy while at home and has not needed any emergency trips to the doctor or the hospital; thank God.  Now to the eye doctor appointments, with each appointment Olivia’s eyes improved! At her last appointment Dr. G said they looked fantastic and that he wants to check them again in a month and if they look the same or better we won’t have to go back! She is such a strong little girl!

This past weekend we had baby dedications at Church by the Glades and we were so proud to dedicate Olivia.  We value our church family so much and were honored to share this moment with them.  As I mentioned before, I’m sure I missed some things but that’s it in a nutshell.  Olivia should be around 8 pounds now, the last time we weighed her she was 7.10.  But I have a question for you; is anyone reading this? Lol Would you like me to continue to update this blog when I can? Let me know J

 

 

9/23/13 – Will the blog continue?

Yes it will, but not at the same frequency.  This past week with Olivia has been good.  We switched Pediatricians, we found a homeopathic MD nearby and we got along very well.  We already received great advice from her and have an appointment set to see her again next month.  Olivia’s eating is all over the place; at first it was every 3-4 hours, now it’s been between every hour to every 3 hours.  Recently, she starts eating and falls asleep quickly then wakes up 20-30 minutes later to eat again.  She lets you know when she is hungry, that’s for sure.  When I look at her, I am amazed at how far she has come.  Just remembering her when she was born and how small and fragile she was, to now a 6 pound baby with chunky cheeks.  We have a nightly ritual, hoping to get her accustomed to bed time.  We bath her, feed her and read to her, then it is bed time.  I play lullaby’s for her, she is accustomed to noise so it helps her fall asleep.  We also noticed she doesn’t mind baths when the temperature is just right, so we try our best to get the right temp for her. 

After feeds we hold her up so the acid reflux doesn’t bother her.  It seems she’s gotten comfortable with this because she wants to be held all the time.  We don’t really mind it because we had 4 months only being able to hold her when we went to the hospital.  We are, however, cutting back on it now since we need to do more than just hold her all day J.  The fisher price swing helps with this, it is so cozy for her; but since Olivia is still very light, it swings rather fast.  So I have to put a blanket on it weigh it down a bit so it doesn’t swing so fast.  It is nice to have Livvy home J

9/16/13 – 9/17/13 – The post everyone has been waiting for

First and foremost I want to take a moment and thank God for every single blessing we have received.  With the circumstances we’ve gone through, Olivia shouldn’t even be here with us.  It is because of his grace that she is with us.  Secondly, I want to apologize for being late with my blog post; I’ve been a bit busy.  This brings me to our adventure on Monday.  Over the weekend, Olivia improved drastically on eating from the bottle.  So much so, the nurse practitioner told me she would come home Tuesday night if she continues.  This was very great news to hear; we did not share it because it could change at any time.  Monday morning I decided to wait until 2 feeds before calling for an update in order to see how she did for more than one feed.  Before I called to check in, Nurse S texted me asking if we were excited. Of course we were! Then she informed me Olivia could come home that same night, they just had to make sure they could discharge the other babies who were scheduled beforehand.  She told me she would let me know the final answer later in the afternoon.  I was working and at 4:00 she texted me “come get your girl!” I got out of my seat and said “it’s official!” and we were all excited.  I called Junior and let him know we could go pick her up so he met me at home and off we went.  We got there and took pictures with the nurses and Dr. T; everyone was so excited for us.  We also gave the nurses the poem Junior wrote for them, they all loved it.  After we got discharged we had to go downstairs to pick up all the breast milk I had there… I had a full cooler with us and the cooler filled up and we had a bag extra.  Unfortunately we do not have room for any more milk so we dropped a bag off at our friend’s house and the rest was lost L.  The first night went well, she was very hungry when we got home so I fed her and she went to sleep.  She woke up at 12:00 to eat and again at 4 am, after 4 she did not go back to sleep until 7 am.  I slept for 4 hours that night. 

We have so many follow up doctor appointments over the next few weeks.  Tuesday was her first appointment with the pediatrician; the office staff was pleasant.  The doctor was nice, but very dry.  Junior looked up another pediatrician and we are meeting them Friday.  Wednesday 9/18/13, we had her follow up appointment with the eye doctor. I had to hold her down while Dr. G examined her eyes.  Olivia squirmed so much but did well, she calmed down rather quickly after the exam.  These exams usually take a big toll on her, today she did very well.  She slept for a few hours after the exam and then woke up and was her normal self.  We are enjoying our time as a family and will keep her at home for a few months before taking her out and about (other than doctor’s appointments).  She is still very susceptible to many things.  When we saw the pediatrician she weighed 5 pounds 13 ounces.  She is already getting big J

9/15/13 – 4 months

Olivia celebrated 4 months yesterday! She did so by doing very well with her feeds; she only had a few desats (blood oxygen dropping) the entire day and they weren’t bad at all.  She also continues to gain weight, she is now 5 lbs 11 ounces J. I have a feeling she will be eating a lot more at home and will increase in weight quickly.  I’ve chosen a pediatrician and called them to let them know about her situation.  He likes to see babies the day after they leave the hospital so they are on standby for an appointment.  I told them once I am in the car with her I will give them a call.  This is going to be interesting, I have no idea how this will work.  I’m so excited to bring her home! As long as she continues on this path it should be sooner rather than later.  To think of what we have gone through in the past 124 days is amazing.  Olivia is such a strong little girl and I can’t wait to watch her grow up.  

The color is hard to see in the picture. The wall is green and everything else is a nice combo of purple and pink. 

9/13/13-9/15/13 – The crib is up =o)

Olivia is continuing to do well.  She is improving with her technique with eating from the bottle. She still desats a bit but not as often.  Her weight is also increasing but not as fast as it was with the fortifier.  We spent most of Saturday with her and it was a very fun day.  She is just adorable to watch and play with.  One of the other babies that has been there longer than Olivia made it back to progressive and we were so happy for him and his parents! She has been through so much and I’m thrilled they are taking a step forward.   We picked up the crib after we worked out and put it in her room to put together Sunday.  Sunday morning we put together the crib and it looks great! One of the drawers is messed up so we have to screw another hole in it to make it work.  Now all we have to do is pick up the mattress and put all the final touches!

9/12/13 – Ravenous

Everything seems to be going well with Olivia.  The only thing we are waiting on is her bottle feeding technique.  She eats from the bottle but she attacks it so fast and does not pace herself.  Which causes her to choke because she is drinking so much and not taking a break to breath; by the time she takes a break she is already desatting (which means her blood oxygen levels drop). She had her eye exam yesterday and I received a call from Dr. G earlier than usual; the funny thing is I did not even get nervous when I saw the NICU was calling.  I just picked it up like any other call.  Dr. G told me her eyes did not get worse, in fact he feels they improved a very little bit! So he wants to continue watching them in hopes they will improve on their own.  This was music to my ears, the fact that they look to have improved a bit makes me very happy.   Now it is just a waiting game; waiting for Olivia to figure out how to pace herself while eating and continue to gain weight on straight breast milk.