More Pictures

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!

Smiling little Briana






Super Girl!





Our Little Angel





I love this one!

Well, Briana is still doing the same as before, which neither of us are complaining about! She is still doing well. As of today she weighs 5 lbs 6.6 oz. and is 18 inches long, a big girl! She has also developed a bit of a reflux problem. This is where she spits up but it is almost like heart burn so quite uncomfortable. She has this problem while they are tube feeding and after her trying to feed orally. It's just started to be treated today with pepsid.

When she has reflux it's terrible to watch. Briana balls up and starts to cry until it passes and then calms down until it starts to bother her again. It's just frustrating because there is nothing I can do about. I just hold her and trying to move her about and try to calm her. The doctors assure us that Briana will out grow it over time and it is something that she can come home with.

We're still working on transferring Briana to a closer hospital. Rush-Copley was the hospital that we preferred Briana to go to because of the fact that it had the same doctors and they already knew our situation. However, the insurance company informed us that the hospital was out of our network which is interesting because this is the sister hospital to Lutheran General. So, the insurance company is going to look further into the hospital and see if they can fine a loop hole. If not they're looking for other hospitals to transfer her to that will be closer to us.

Other than that Briana is being a great little girl. She's quite active when she's awake and it's always a great time being with her!

More Pictures

Still Going Strong

Briana is still doing quite well. She in now completely off of her cannula and is breathing on her own. It's such a positive step in the right direction and is so encouraging. The only wires that are left on Briana's body are the monitors, they will stay on her until she leaves the NICU, and her feeding tube.

The feeding tube is still intact because Briana is only taking half of her feedings orally. Before she can come home Bri needs to be able to take all of her feedings by mouth. She just gets so exhausted from trying to take her feedings from the breast or bottle. Briana is taking 50 cc of breast milk a day and normally averages 15-20 cc from the breast or 20-25 cc from the bottle. The bottle is easier because she doesn't have to suckle nearly as much as she does the breast.

Briana now weighs 5.4 lbs. and is still growing. She is out of most of her preemie clothes and looks so grown up! The doctors did another echo scan and her PDA is still evident, it's a small to moderate hole. The cardiologist assured me that since she is doing so well clinically that they do not want to operate on her heart. Also, he told me he really isn't too concerned about her heart that it wasn't even on the back burner. He believes that it will close up on it's own and she will be able to come home with it and be an out patient.

The doctors also conducted a hearing test, which Briana passed! Also a speech pathologist came to work with Briana concerning her suckling on the bottle. She wanted to make sure that she is handling the feedings well. The speech pathologist was very impressed with Briana, but who are we kidding, she's our daughter, we knew that already!

We are also in the process of trying to get Briana transferred to Rush-Coppley. Briana would be 11 minutes from home and we could go see her more often. It's actually more important to me that Briana is closer to home so that Paul can go see her more often. It's difficult for Paul to go see her during the work week because he can't take 4-5 hours out of his work day. He is doing such an amazing job that it would be great to spoil him with a lunch break where we could go see Bri. We are just waiting for the insurance company to approve the transfer. We will miss the nurses so much but the reason we chose this hospital was because it is the sister hospital to Lutheran General. So, she would have the same doctors and they are already aware of our situation.

Both Paul and I want to thank everyone for the prayers and support. We don't know how we would have gotten this far without all of our friends and family.

** See below for a new video of Briana!! **

Video for Daddy

A Wonderful Day

Briana is doing so well that Paul and I can not believe it.

We previously had attempted breast feeding, just twice, but both times Briana would latch on, suckle a couple times, and then look around confused. We were proud of her for trying and she was doing quite well for being 32 weeks. However, over the weekend she took a bottle and finished the whole thing! Paul and I met with the lacatation consolution today and she gave us some great pointers on feeding Briana. Briana latched on and actually suckled for quite a while. She was tired so she would start to fall asleep until I would move her around and she would start with the suckleing again.

Briana is also a thumb sucker! Also today I was holding her and all of the sudden she put her thumb in her mouth! I really couldn't believe, my daughter is a genius, she's discovered she has fingers! It was the cutest thing. Both Paul and I were thumb suckers and it is amazing to see her progress.

Earlier before we even went into the hospital we recieved a phone call from the nurse. She told Paul she wanted to call with good news. Normally when we recieve a call from the hospital it's not the best news or they want to get our consent to do a bllod transfusion or something else. So, to get a call for good news was rather interesting. The nurse told us that since Briana is taking a full bottle that she may be able to come home in two to three weeks!! She told Paul that he better start setting up the crib. His responce was that we had the crib set up, now we're just working on the changing table. Paul and I can not believe that our little girl may be coming home soon! It's almost surreal to thing that we've come this far.

Briana also weighs almost 5lbs now! The nurses told me she'll almost out grown her premie clothes so I better now buy any more. It's crazy to think about that she's gotten that big. In a way it makes me a little sad because she's already growing up so fast! Our little girl has a little bit of a double chin and I love it, she's so beautiful.

Some More Pictures

A Week Update... better late than never

I apologize for the delay in posts, we have been quite busy this past week. While Paul was in Puerto Rico his grandfather passed away. So on Saturday morning we went to see Briana and then on Sunday left for Iowa. It was wonderful to meet all of Paul's family and get to show off pictures of our baby.

Briana has been doing very well. The nurses are still attempting to ween her from her oxygen and she's now on one liter. As soon as she can control her breaths to under 60 breaths a minute we can start breast and bottle feeding. She still is occasionally having spells. There are times she recovers on her own and sometimes she needs some help. The nurses area also trying to get her off of her cannula! I'm hoping that by the end of the week she might be completely breathing on her own!

Briana was really having a lot of trouble pooping. She hadn't pooped in over 24 hours so the doctors gave her a suppository. When Paul and I went to visit her on Sat. Paul got to hold her for the first time since he had returned from Puerto Rico. After he was done we but Briana back in her bed and I got to change her diaper. At first she just had a little smear and we were happy with that. As I continued to change her diaper she went in to ice cream machine mode and continued to poop. I tried to put her butt into the diaper and thought I had done so fast enough but a nurse later pointed out the projectile poop across her bed. There was so much that they had to change out her bed completely! She is completely Paul's daughter.

Briana is still having difficulty pooping so they have given her a drug that should help basically help her intestines push along with another suppository today. Briana hasn't pooped since her explosion mentioned above, so it's been almost 72 hours. Her stomach isn't distended and is soft which are all good signs but she needs to poop on a more regular basis. The doctors have still been increasing her feedings, 16 cc's now! However, they've extended her feedings over 2 hours.

The doctors also have explained to Paul and I that Briana is big enough were they are going to put her in an open crib. She has to be able to maintain her temperature so they are slowly lowering the temperature in her bed and observing how she tolerates it. It's a little crazy to think about her in a "big girl bed" but it's a great step in the right direction so that we can bring her home.

Today I went in to visit Briana and brought her a swing that we had received for one of our baby showers. It was so good to see her again even though Paul and I were only gone for a couple of days. When I finally saw Briana she opened her eyes and started smiling at me. It was so wonderful to know she knew who I was and that I seemed missed. After holding her for quite a while I decided to test out the swing with Bri. She is so small in it! It was so funny to watch her expressions as she heard the music. I don't think she was thrown off by the motion but she kept looking around in the direction that the music was coming from. Once Briana is in an open bed and when she's awake the nurses will put her in the swing. It's a wonderful thing especially when Paul and I can't be there.

Also, Briana is 4.1 lbs! She's a big girl and is still growing! She looks so cute now and is constantly filling out. One of the nurses placed a bow in her hair and it looks absolutely adorable. At first I wasn't sure how they that put the bow there without a clip but a nurse informed me that they used KY jelly. Apparently it hardens and keeps the bow to the head but is also water soluble, she looks amazing.

Thanks everyone for checking in, sorry it took so long to update it!