Two Week Celebration!

Well, a low key celebration. Tonight at 9:45 marked the two week "anniversary" of our baby girl coming off the ventilator in the hospital! Two weeks ago tonight was also the first time I was able to hold her, and the first time since right after she was born that Brian and I were able to see her without any machines attached to her.

To celebrate, Brian and I ate the Reese's Pieces that we had saved for ourselves from the hospital handouts. We put together about 24 little favor bags of them and handed them out to our visitors, but we saved two for us for after she came home. Tonight was a great time to have them because we are so thankful to have our baby girl home and healthy.

Thank you to everyone who kept Reese in your thoughts and prayers over the period of her hospitalization. Brian and I could really feel the love and support for our family and it means more than you all will ever know. Thank you so much!

Two Weeks Old!

Brian and I absolutely can not believe that our baby girl is two weeks old today. In a lot of ways the last two weeks were incredibly long and hard, but at the same time it seems like we just left to go to the hospital! Two weeks ago tonight we were in the hospital and our baby girl was in the NICU being put on C-PAP. But while it's been very hard, our daughter's health and recovery has been a huge blessing. And Brian and I both agree that our family has only gotten stronger through the whole ordeal.

In either case, we now have a beautiful baby girl (who is looking more and more like her Daddy everyday) home with us! She loves to eat...during the day. And I think the whole ordeal just wore her out, because she's starting to "wake up" and take in what's around her. This afternoon she was awake for two hours and we just stared at each other. Tomorrow we go to the Pediatrician for her two week check up and we'll have her stats! Brian and I also have a few follow up questions to the hospitalization and some things that have come up since we got home. I'm excited to see how she's progressing. We love our little Reese to pieces!

I'll post some 2 week old pictures as soon as my internet connection (or blogger) will let me!

Reese's Homecoming!

Right now both of my kids and my husband are all taking naps...so why am I awake? Reese only woke up once in the middle of the night last night for a feeding and change, so I got loads of sleep in comparison to the last week and half when we were coming home from the hospital late and leaving first thing and then staying awake worrying about our girl. Even if I did wake up 10 times to make sure she was breathing.

Brian and I got to the hospital to pick Reese up at 3:15. We would have gotten there earlier but we spent the afternoon dusting everything in sight, vacuuming and getting the house clean for Reese. The doctor's only discharge instructions were that we need to keep Reese away from Noelle and other pets (because of the dander) for a few months. But since she needs to stay away from dander we decided to keep her away from dust too and that meant a cleaning frenzy. Fortunately my Mom came over to help so we got it done quickly, but then we had to change because we had dust all over us (especially Brian since he was in charge of the fans).

Once we got there her nurse had us fill out her discharge paperwork while I got Reese dressed in her coming home outfit. Then she showed us how to get Reese in her car seat safely (like we don't know how). Instead of the typical wheeling Mommy and Baby out situation, Reese was put in her car seat and the car seat was put in her bassinet and the nurse walked her downstairs. Brian went and got the car and pulled around and we got Reese in! She was quiet the entire ride home until we pulled onto the street that leads up to our neighborhood. She wailed for a bit, but once we got her inside I fed her and she was fine.

My Mom had taken Wyatt with her to get my sister from her cross country practice, so he wasn't home yet. I was able to feed her peacefully before he got home and we made the big introduction. And when I say "big introduction," I'm being sarcastic. Wyatt had virtually no interest in his sister. This could be because his grandparents and Uncle and Aunts were in the room, and he didn't like being pushed to look at her. Because after everyone left he became very interested.

He kept walking up to her in her swing and looking at her and saying "baby." But soon after my Mom left I had to call and ask her to bring over her little baby gate/play yard. We're going to put all Reese's things inside to keep Wyatt away. This was brought on when Wyatt brought over a pillow and put it on his sister. Yeah. On her. Not good. Brian and I are very excited about watching the two of them get accustomed to one another and grow up together. Having both our kids under the same roof (finally) is the best!

Reese all dressed for coming home!

Leaving the NICU!

In the car getting ready to leave!

Reese & Daddy

Reese & Mommy

Home at last!

Wyatt seeing his sister for the first time. I think Noelle is trying to warn him!

My baby boy and my baby girl!

Wyatt giving Reese her pacifier. I'm not sure where he learned this. He gave his up at nine months.

She's Coming Home!

Brian and I are going back at 3 to bring our Baby Girl home at last!

Reese!

I just called the NICU to check on Reese (I love the accessibility of the nurses there). We were waiting to find out if she'd gained weight and knew that she had a midnight feeding and weigh in. Yesterday the Doctor told us she was going home today if she gained weight....and she did! I think she gained a little over an ounce and she ate her entire midnight bottle! We'll find out when we go in for her 9 AM feeding whether she's coming home or not! We'll keep you posted!

Some Pictures from Yesterday and Today

Reese getting her bottle from Daddy
Censored shot of breastfeeding (no Mommies Gone Wild here)
Asleep in my arms after her hearty meal
Her "big girl bed"
Asleep in her new digsFalling asleep while staring at her puppy dog Asleep after breakfast this morning - they let us bring her clothes in to get her dressed

She woke up for Daddy

Another Exciting Day!

This morning Brian and I went for our usual NICU visit to see our baby girl. She had a 9 am scheduled feeding and we'd decided that Brian would give her the bottle. I've pumped at least 140 ounces of milk since she was born so I've really been waiting for her to use it! Brian gave her the bottle like a pro, but once she had finished she let us know that she wanted more! Brian was holding her and she started rooting around like she was ready for some milk. Our nurse was very excited that she was doing this and ran to the Doctor's Office. She came and asked if I wanted to try and have her eat. Of course I did! We went ahead and set everything up to feed her and the nurse passed her to me. As soon as I pulled her to me she latched on! She did such a great job. Brian and I both were so proud of her. The doctor told us that she's completely done with antibiotic treatment as well and the sedatives, so now we just need Reese to eat and gain some weight and she can come home (hopefully in the next 2 days). I'm starting to worry about Hurricane Hanna that might be headed for us. I really am hesitant to bring her home with a hurricane headed our way.

Reese also got moved to a big girl bed today. She's not up high any more, she's just in the typical hospital bassinet. We were given a bunch of souvenirs from her stay so far (Brian was eager to take things - like her feeding tube - that I could probably have done without) for us to bring home.

So as of right now, we're looking at bringing our Baby Girl home in the next few days. I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed and will post pictures tomorrow. I also hope to give a Wyatt update....but I need to get my sleep now!

Breathing the Same Air as You and Me!

This morning Brian and I went to visit Reese and were pleasantly surprised to see that she was no longer on any Oxygen. With the exception of a feeding tube through her nose, her face is completely free of nasal cannula's and everything! They were going to do a two hour trial period, and she passed her trial! They've also backed up even more on her sedatives. She's getting them less frequently and in smaller doses. This of course means that she is becoming more and more alert! She had her eyes open and was wide awake when we got there tonight to visit her. We were overjoyed that she's gone all day without the support of any Oxygen!

Tonight when we got there Reese had just gotten a new little roommate next door who was born a little early. Her nurse was busy caring for him and giving his parents all the info they needed, and Reese was clearly hot and hungry, but there was nothing Brian or I could do. We just had to try to calm her the best we could until she was available. Once she finally came over, she had me sit in the rocking chair and calm Reese down. She immediately stopped crying and just looked up at me and stared. She was absolutely precious! I didn't want to let her go, but she was about to have a big moment....

Reese had a bottle for the very first time tonight! She did such a great job! When a baby has respiratory issues, the challenge is to make sure that they can breathe, suck and swallow at the same time. She did all three like a pro. The nurse fed her the first bottle. She wanted to because she wanted to make sure she was mastering it and also so that she could keep an eye on her stats at the same time. She offered to let us, but I didn't want to (I don't believe that I should give her a bottle at all until breastfeeding is mastered, but even then I think it can cause conflicts at times), and Brian wanted to do whatever was best for Reesie Cup. In either case, we'll be back there tomorrow morning for her 9am feeding and Brian will feed her then.

After she ate we did about an hour of kangaroo care, which was wonderful! I really enjoy being able to hold my baby, and I can't wait to have her home so I can hold her whenever I want. Although, I think that there's gonna be some major competition for baby holding! But I feed her so it shouldn't be too bad for me! Through the night we will just continue to pray that she's able to continue breathing room air and stays off breathing assistance.

Reese layed out in her isolette

Eating her first bottle!

Getting burped!

Hanging out with Daddy!

Pictures of Us Kangarooing!

Holding my Baby Girl!
Falling asleep together. Relaxed!
Elated!
They're about to take her away, but still happy!
Brian's first diaper change with "girl parts."
Looking at Daddy

Moving around

I got to take her temperature!

Staring at each other

Her isolette is all cleaned up since she's not attached to so many machines!

A Long and Even Better (Due) Day!

This post will hopefully explain why it took so long for me to post pictures and add details to Brian's story about Saturday night.

The 31st was Reese's due date! And it was a great day for all of us. First, I had called at 5 am to get an update on her (they say to call at anytime..and I'm up pumping then anyway) and was told that she was doing very well on the Oxygen and nasal canulla, but that they had changed her from low flow Oxygen (where she did most of the work herself), to liter flow (which involves more pressure sent in to open her lungs so she doesn't have to). Besides that minor change, Reese was doing great. As usual Brian and I left for the hospital and got there are 9:30. Today there was a new Doctor on duty, but he was very informative and gave us a few new bits of information....

1. Reese is now being "stepped down" on her sedation. As the Doctor said though, she's been on narcotics since she was born, so it's going to be a slow process. Brian overheard the new dosage for her medicine and asked how it was being stepped down (it sounded like more), but it was actually a smaller unit of medicine so it all made sense. She is definitely "waking up" from her little sedated state now.

2. She is being weaned off of her IV nutrition now! Today she was given a very tiny bit of my breast milk every three hours through a feeding tube. Right now the goal is to slowly get her off the IV food and start her on the breast milk completely over the next few days. It's not a quick process because we really need to look out for her stomach and digestive system. Once she's done here she moves to a bottle and then my breast. Our pediatrician always told us to let them settle on the breast for 4 weeks and then introduce the bottle (which is what we did with Wyatt), but this pediatrician said that after we get her on the breast it will be like she never had a bottle to begin with. They have great lactation consultants and occupational therapists to help with the breastfeeding. Plus, they told me the second time around only makes it easier on me. I can not wait until I can feed my girl for the first time! I was getting about 3 ounces at each pumping session before I held her last night, but I told Brian I really felt my milk come in after I held her. Now I'm at 5 to 5.5 ounces per pump. I think I'm building quite the supply! We witnessed her little sucking reflex today when they put a small amount of breast milk on her pacifier, she went to town!

3. Kangaroo care was introduced today. This is the part we're most excited about! The nurse asked the Doctor if we could try it and he said yes! Kangaroo care is basically skin to skin contact. It's great for bonding, but in cases of respiratory problems, it's also helpful for baby Reese to lay on my chest and feel the rhythm of me breathing. Not to mention how comforting it is for her to hear something she was so familiar with for nine months (my heartbeat). For two hours today I was able to lie in a chair and lay there with my baby resting on my chest. It was the best I've felt all week. Reese and I were both tired so we fell asleep for bits and pieces of the two hours. Brian said that's when we were both the most calm and that judging by her her respiratory rate it was great for her. During the periods of time that we both slept her rate fluctuated a lot less and at some points stayed within 5 breaths of each other for minutes. I felt bad for Brian just sitting there for two hours watching me hold her, but his reward was changing a pee pee diaper afterwards. Holding her for that long was absolute heaven. I just stared at her and cuddled and did my best to set a good example for her to breathe by.

4. The doctor mentioned that we may possibly be looking at 4 to 6 days to bring her home. Everything has to go well with these changes, so please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. There's nothing we would love more than to bring our girl home when the time is right!

The kangaroo care session was from 4 to 6, so Brian and I went back briefly around 9:30 just because we don't like to go long periods of time without seeing her. The nurses keep telling me to rest my feet (I've got some serious cankles and swelling going on), but I'm drinking tons of water waiting for that pee to come where the fluids leave my body and I lose 20 pounds...at least that's what happened with Wyatt! She was doing very well. She had been bathed, had another round of footprints taken, and she was weighed (7 pounds, 6.5 ounces) and measured (20 and a half inches long). She was awake, but the nurse said they planned on making it a low key night for her. No big changes, just some sleep and getting her rest!

*I just called and checked on her and she's doing very well tonght (I try to call and check on her when I'm up pumping in the middle of the night). Apparently there was a poopy diaper she didn't enjoy much, but no changes to her oxygen or anything! We'll go see her in a few hours!*

Last Night!

So, Brian's blog below gives you a pretty accurate story on what happened, but I'll throw in some more details.

Last night we went to the hospital to visit our girl. On our way up to the NICU we talked and decided that we would not be disappointed if Reese hadn't stabilized after the changes that were made earlier in the day. We can't let ourselves get upset over small setbacks right now. Anyway, when we got into the NICU Reese's night nurse told us that she was "fabulous." She had stabilized her stats from earlier in the day and was doing very well. She said that they were talking about extubation and we just assumed she meant today. But then she said the Nurse Practitioner was on her way up and we arrived just in time for the extubation. We were shocked that they were doing it, but we were happy that she'd made the progress and that we had arrived in time to be there afterwards.

Brian and I went into the hallway and waited for them extubate. I don't think I've ever prayed so hard in my life as I did for those 5 minutes. When we went back Reese was off of the vent and they said she had done well. To be honest, I was captivated by her beautiful face. I have only seen her once before with nothing on her face (the C-PAP machine and the tape for the vent covered her up), and it was just beautiful. Reese is currently receiving low flow Oxygen through a nasal cannula and is doing all the breathing on her own!!!! The Nurse Practitioner said that she had done a great job and that the next step was to monitor her for an hour, to try not to stimulate her (no touching, just talking) during that period of time, and they would draw her blood gas levels then. She said that if everything looked good, I would be able to hold her!

Brian and I sat there and looked at our daughter for the longest time. After about 2 minutes she opened her little eyes and just stared at us. My heart melted. She is the prettiest, most beautiful little angel I've ever seen in my whole life (of course, I'm biased). I loved sitting there talking to her and watching her discover new things. At that point I remembered that we had left the camera at home because we weren't planning on taking pictures of her. If I was going to hold my baby we needed pictures! Brian volunteered to drive home and get it (well, he wanted to and I still can't drive). I got a whole 45 minutes sitting there talking to my baby girl and I had her undivided attention. She just stared the whole time. I told her how proud we are of her for being so strong and such a little fighter, about her family, about her dog, how cool her room is and just talked forever.

Brian finally got back right before they took her blood gas levels which came back excellent. We waited a few minutes but then we were finally able to hold her! Probably one of the greatest moments of my life! I couldn't stop myself from crying, I've just been waiting a week (well, really 8 months and 1 week since I found out I was pregnant with her) to hold her my arms! She was so precious! Still wide awake and staring up at me. You know how when you hold a baby in the same position for awhile your arm starts to fall asleep? Well my arm fell asleep and it was the best thing in the world because my little girl made it fall asleep! I would have been content to sit there and hold her forever. At first they said it would only be for 15 minutes, but the nurse had to take care of her other baby so it got stretched to 25! We also didn't think that Brian would be able to hold her (but he was more than supportive that I got to...I think he was happy that I finally had the chance), but she let him hold his little girl for 5 minutes too! It was so nice to see my husband with such a huge smile on his face after the stressful week that we've had. It's crazy how before you have kids you could never really imagine your husband holding a little tiny baby and looking completely comfortable, but Brian was in his element holding our baby girl. I love my family so much! This was a one time deal for now, we won't be able to hold her for awhile and unfortunately no one else will be either, but it was such a blessing and it came at the perfect time. The whole night was about perfect timing. When we arrived just in time for the extubation. That Brian was able to get back just in time for the blood gas check. That the nurse practitioner on duty is such an advocate of kangaroo care and letting parents hold their infants. What an absolutely amazing night!

Hi Mommy and Daddy! Look at me all vent free!

Holding my baby girl!

She is beautiful

Yeah, he's in love

Happy in her Daddy's arms

Getting her poopy diaper changed

Changing Reese's diaper for the first time!

Update - Reese Is Off The Ventilator!

Brittney will go more in depth tomorrow (later today...it is currently 1:00am), but here is a quick summary of our surprising evening. We arrived at the hospital around 9:30 tonight. We were immediately told that our little girl was doing "fabulous." Five minutes later, the nurse practitioner decide to "extubate" or remove her breathing tube. We stepped outside for 5 minutes and then they called us back in. Our Reese was free of the ventilator! She is now on low flow oxygen via nasal cannula. But our shocking night had only just begun...they let us hold Reese...FINALLY! Brittney held her for 25 minutes and I held her for 5. Then Brittney got to change her poopy diaper.

Reese still has a lot of challenges ahead of her, and maybe even a few backward steps (hopefully not), but she made HUGE progress today and we are very proud of her. You can't imagine the joy we felt tonight. We went to the hospital hoping that she had just maintained her numbers from this morning. We got more than we ever dreamed of.

Brittney will give a better version of this story later and post some pictures. We have been overwhelmed by the support we have been receiving. Thank you to everyone. Please keep Reese in your prayers.

- Brian

Another Day...

Brian and I have been to the NICU to visit Reese twice so far today. We'll probably be leaving within the next hour for our last trip for the day. Reese has been doing well. When we were last there they had lowered her dependency on the vent so that she's breathing more on her own and they've also lowered her Oxygen to 23%. We were very happy when we got there and saw those changes. We had to make a tough call earlier and ask everyone else not to visit her today. She just gets a little worked up when she has visitors and we really need her to get over her humps on the vent so that she can go back to C-PAP. It's looking like it might have been a good call, but I'm still sorry that no one else got to visit her.

There were rumblings when we were there earlier today about letting her stabilize where she is on the vent and putting her back on C-PAP tomorrow. We're not getting our hopes up, but we are cautiously optimistic that it might happen. We would love for it to happen, but we want to be sure that it's the right thing! Please continue to keep our Baby Girl in your prayers!

The following pictures will catch you up on our Reese pictures. We don't like to over stimulate her, so we haven't been able to take many. Obviously I'm just posting good pictures, we've taken many more, but the ones below are the most current. Our goal was always to make sure that we had equal numbers of pictures for both our kids, so we have a lot to catch up to when she comes home!

Here's the view of her little isolette. We have a few things there to decorate it for her. At this point the picture of Mommy, Daddy and Wyatt was being printed (it's there now), but there's a picture of Noelle and a toy that Anna gave Reese.

Here she is hooked up to the vent

Reese again! Her eyes are covered to keep her stimulation to a minimum.

Her little hand during her blood transfusion yesterday (mainly precautionary)

Reese and Mommy (and a picture of Noelle)

Daddy's Girl and Daddy (and Daddy's other girl Noelle)

Family Update

Brian and I made it to the hospital to visit Reese twice today. Thanks to our mothers we will make it back definitely twice tomorrow, and seeing as how we both have family coming up this weekend I might make it back a little more tomorrow and Sunday. When we left the hospital tonight Reese's Oxygen level was at 23% (the goal is 21%), the nurse told us that she fluctuated between 23% and 27% all day. She increased a few times, mainly because whenever they mess with her she gets rambunctious and starts breathing fast so they raise her O2 level. The goal is still for her to stabilize while on the vent before placing her back on C-PAP. We're praying that over the next few days she stabilizes and we begin to see a clear picture of where our Baby Girl's treatment is headed. When we got there tonight she had her little eyes opened and she was just looking at us while she was laying down, but you could tell she was sleepy because her eyes would drift closed and then open back up, like "Mommy and Daddy are here, I want to see them."

Wyatt is back home tonight after spending the last few days with my parents. He fell back into his routine nicely, although he and Brian got a little rowdy tonight. Further proof that I'll need help though because Wyatt nailed me in the area of my incision about twice and it hurt. Fortunately our parents will be able to help us out with this stuff. Unfortunately, my Dad is being sent to Houston to wait for Hurricane Gustav to roll in, so I know Wyatt will really miss him and I know my Dad will miss being able to visit Reese and get regular updates.

Brian and I quickly learned that Wyatt is picking up words after hearing them for the first time. Specifically I think Wyatt overheard the word "Boobies" (we're very mature about the breastfeeding around here) and Wyatt said "Boo boo, boo boo" a few times. There really are a lot of words that you don't think of as "bad" but you also don't want to hear your 17 month old walking around repeating!

Tomorrow Brian's mom is coming over first thing so that Brian and I can get to the NICU by 9. He's going to go into work for a few hours, but not spending the whole day there. Like I said before I'm hoping to escort a few more people in so I might get to see her more. Only our parents can get into the NICU without one of us. If we have any updates to share I'll be sure to pass them along, please just continue to keep Reese in your prayers!

Kisses like this one got me through some rough patches (although Wyatt constantly reminding himself "No Kick Mommy" was pretty funny too).

Smiling at Daddy

Reese grasping Brian's finger (she's on C-PAP still here)

Reese intubated and on the vent

Me seeing her on the vent for the first time

View from the top

Reese curled up with her frog (the multicolored thing on her chest). This serves two purposes. It simulates the womb environment because she weighed down and can't move as much, but because it's weighed down and can't move as much it helps keep her from pulling on the tubes. With preemies interest in the tubes isn't a problem because they're so small, but with full term babies like our girl, those tubes are likely to get yanked out...and they almost have been. The washcloth over her forehead helps block out the light to keep her stimulation to a minimum.

Me kissing Reesie on her forehead

Daddy is seriously in love with his little girl! When I was recovering and couldn't make it down he would just sit and stare at her for hours...sometimes leaving me waiting in the room to find out how she was doing! But it's the sweetest thing I've ever seen in my life. What a great husband and Daddy!