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May 2009

It's been so long since I written on here, sorry everyone! Briana has been keeping us quite busy and she's growing so fast! Briana now weighs 1o lbs 7 oz., she's a big girl now! She got the double chin and is starting to fill out quite nicely. She's still wearing newborn clothes but is starting to grow out of some of them, it actually makes me kinda sad. However, at the same time her 3 month summer clothes are so cute I'm excited to see her in them!

Briana's health is amazing. We're officially off the monitor and I can't tell you how excited Paul and I are not to have to deal with that any more. We actually took her off the monitor before we got the doctors permission but we felt that she was ready for it. Also, the machine would randomly go off during the night because of lose leads and would scare Paul and I to death, so that was another reason for us to have the monitor off of her. She hadn't had an alarm go off since the first week she came home which was another reason Paul and I felt confident with our decision. Briana is still on her meds but we're slowly reducing the caffeine. Her eyes are phenomenal, the ROP is completely gone and she only has another check up in 8 months just to monitor her progress.

As for the hole in her heart, we're not completely sure if it is closed. Briana has an appointment in July to monitor her progress for her eyes, ears, heart, and to see where she is developmentally. During that appointment they'll do another echo scan to let us know. However, Briana's pediatrician informed us that she did not hear a murmur. It's always good news to hear that but after being in the hospital and they would tell us that and later it would be discovered she still had a hole, basically we don't want to get our hopes up. She still is growing and thriving so I do not believe that if there is a hole in her heart they would operate.

Developmentally Briana is right on course with her adjusted age. She'd be about 2 months old but is holding her head up and has control 90% of the time. She's smiling, I can't tell you how much that melts my heart, and is cooing a lot. Briana is kicking a ton too and loves her baby mat, it's her favorite toy and she can spend about 30 minutes on it, it's a great place to put her if I'm needing a shower or getting dinner done! ;) Briana loves to stand, it's how we get her to stop crying, and her face is hilarious!

When we first brought Briana home she was sleeping in her car seat and continued to do so for the first 6 weeks. We've now got her sleeping in her crib and she's really gotten used to it. Briana sleeps about 5-6 hours through the night so I feel like I'm finally getting my sanity back. Paul is nice enough to take her one night on the weekend so that I can sleep in. I think it really lets Paul appreciate me taking her during the week.

I finally gave up on breast feeding as well. It was not something that I wanted to do but I really feel that since she was in the hospital for so long Briana just got used to eating out of a bottle and also her suckle was so weak. When she finally came home I would breast feed for an hour and it was so frustrating. Briana would cry and attempt to suckle and wasn't getting enough, so after the breast feeding we would give her a bottle of breast milk, then I would pump the rest out, and the cycle would start again in an hour. It was so exhausting for all of us. Paul was getting stressed because he could see both of us frustrated and he could do nothing. The comical part was when Paul was trying to give me breast feeding tips! So, now Briana is on formula and she seems to have no complaints. Even the transition from breast milk to formula was very easy, thank goodness!

In late April we started taking Briana out in the public which also was amazing. I felt like we were locked up in the house and would sometimes go stir crazy because I had been couped up for so long. Briana loves her stroller and going for walks. We had our first shopping trip together and she did wonderful. I almost purchased her a little onsie that says, "Mom and me love to shop," but I didn't think Paul would appreciate that as much as I would! Briana is also such a ham. Whenever we're out and someone will stop to look at Briana she'll give them a huge toothless grin, it's so funny to see.

Briana still looks like both Paul and I. She has her dad's eyes and forehead and everything from the nose down is me. It's amazing to see her looks develop. She's also lost most of her hair which make me sad. In fact, she has what we call it old man hair, very little hair on the top of her head but a ring of hair on the bottom and back of her head. Paul says business in the front and party in the back, poor girl!

Briana really is amazing and our little blessing. She is such a fighter, literally when it comes to bed, but I wouldn't change a thing about her.

Well, we’ve have Briana home for 5 full days now and it’s been quite a trip. She actually a good baby and really doesn’t cry unless she needs anything, which is fine by us. Paul and I went to Briana’s first doctor’s appointment. We have Dr. Anne Emmick and are thrilled to have her. She has a very impressive resume and is a mom herself. Dr. Emmick was very good with Briana and answered all of our questions with a lot of detail. A nurse at Delnor NICU had advised us not to take Briana anywhere for 6 months, which I thought was a little absurd. When we asked Dr. Emmick about this she told us this was not true and to use our common sense, great news. I couldn’t imagine not being able to go anywhere for 6 months, I would go crazy! She also weighed Briana while we were there, a whole 6 lbs and 2 oz! Since Briana is two months old chronologically she was due for 4 immunizations and we weren’t really aware of that. Briana was not pleased about the whole thing, which I did not expect it to go well. Briana’s little legs were so sore for the rest of the day; she was not a happy camper.

Briana also had her first bath in the sink; she actually seemed to enjoy it. But she was floating instead of sinking toward the bottom. Overall we feel pretty lucky to have her home and besides the lack of sleep we’re getting by alright. I just can’t wait for her to start talking and maybe not sleeping all the time. When she is awake, mainly at night Briana is looking everywhere. She’s a little explorer!

And She's Home!

Well everyone Briana just made it home!! It happened this past Thursday and we're so happy to finally have her home.

Briana was transferred to Delnor hospital because she was stable enough to be closer to home. Having her at Delnor was such a blessing. Both Paul and I were able to visit Briana multiple times a day for almost every feeding. It was wonderful to be so close with in comparison to Lutheran General. Briana had to test an apnea test in order to come home, it was a 24 hour test that observed her heart rate, breathing, and any apnea spells. On her first round she failed it and it was quite disheartening, we really thought that she would be coming home.

The doctors started her second test and we really didn't want to get our hopes up that she might be coming home. When I went in that morning I knew that she would be concluding her test and was nervous, I didn't believed that she had passed. The doctor came in to discuss the results and informed me that Briana had passed and could come home that afternoon! I was so excited and called Paul and some other family members to spread our news.

The first day home with Briana was quite surreal. Paul and I couldn't believe she was finally home. We showed Briana around the house and her room. She has been such a good baby and we've had no complaints. She did not like her crib at all, in fact every time we attempted to place her in it five minutes later she would be screaming. So from 12-2 she slept on Paul's chest and the rest of the night on mine, we're spoiling her already! Thank goodness for Laura, she gave us the advise to let Briana sleep in her car seat because it would keep her nice and snug. That did the trick, the next night she was sleeping past her feedings and I had to wake her up so she didn't pass 4 hours.

It's so wonderful to see Briana with Paul, he's such a good dad and they are so cute together. It's really quite amazing to think that we made Briana and she is so little and perfect. We both feel so lucky and blessed to have Briana and finally have her home. We want to thank everyone again for all of the support and prayers, we don't think we could have gotten through everything without it. THANK YOU!!

Closer to home!!

Briana has been doing so well that Lutheran General decided that she was stable enough to be transferred to Delnor. At first I was really excited about her being closer to home because she'd be 5 minutes frome our house and the opportunity to see her more often is amazing. Then I began to think that she would not have the same nurses and the doctors wouldn't know her tenancies. However, the doctors at Lutheran General assured and reassured me that they had every confidence that the doctors at Delnor would do an amazing job. It was hard to leave those nurses, they've been so good with Briana and we've been through the worst with them. They will be missed but we're keeping in touch with them.

So, on Friday Briana was transferred to Delnor by ambulance and Paul and I met her there. Delnor's NICU is much smaller than Lutheran General, in fact there are only two other babies. The nurses seems quite capable of taking care of her and they have been more than helpful to make us feel comfortable. They are making sure to get to know Briana and her habits and really listen to our suggestions on how to make her more comfortable.

Once Briana was comfortable after the transferred my family came to visit. Jill had come down from Madison and got to see and hold Briana for the first time. It was really amazing to be able to see her interact with Briana. Also, Briana has been doing very well with her feedings. We've discovered she's a night owl because she does her best feedings at night, lucky us! She's been taking full bottles at night and during the day half of a bottle. The nurses tell us that once she is able to take down full feedings ever feeding for 24 hours they will remove her feeding tube.

After the feeding tube is removed once Briana has been eating full feeding for 4 to 5 days with no spells she will be able to come home! There really isn't a set time that she we have till she comes home, it's just whenever she puts everything all together. So, hopefully soon it will all come together!