Peanut's First Christmas

It's sad what the nurses and I will come up with for entertainment purposes. Isn't she cute??

Whenever I see this pic of her and her teddy bear I think of that doll back in the eighties that was called My Buddy and the song that went with it ... My Buddy ... My Buddy and Me!!!! I'm going to be singing that all day now. I hope you will, too.

got milk?

I do.

Impressed?

I am.

Just hear those sleigh bells ring-a-ling ....

The last week has been CRAZY!!! Things were moving along just fine (Charlotte was even starting to drink a little bit from a bottle), and then on Friday morning she got ANOTHER infection and they had to put the ventilator back on. She just can't get a break. This one came through her IV line just like the last one, so they had to take it out and put another one in a few days later. One of the nurses explained to me that the blood infections are usually caused by bacteria that live on her skin, however, when those bacteria get into her blood stream her immune system is too immature to fight them off. An adult's immune system is typically advanced enough to handle that little amount of bacteria. Hopefully in a few days her feedings will have increased enough that they can remove that main IV line and there will be one less source for infection to enter her body.

Now that's she's "older" (we just passed the 35 week mark gestationally, meaning she's still 5 weeks premature) Charlotte is treated like any other newborn that gets a fever and an infection - meaning they had to give her a spinal tap to see if she had meningitis. Luckily everything came back normal on that culture.

But there is a happy ending to this saga. Brian and I got a call last night around 7pm and Charlotte pulled out her tube on her own. They weren't even planning to try and extubate her until later in the week, but Charlotte knows best. I went to see her last night and she seemed pretty tuckered-out, but she looked great and more content than she had been over the weekend. And *yay!* today I get to dress her, and love her and squeeze her and call her George (if you haven't seen that Looney Tunes episode then don't worry)!

On Friday, Charlotte received her first haircut due to a failed IV attempt. It sounds horrible, but it's actually quite common. You can see in the photo how her head is shaved a bit on the side. The other side is shaved as well, so she now has her first mohawk. It's never to early to express yourself.

I'd like to send a shout-out to the folks at Ecolab for all the wonderful gifts you sent over! Thank you so much for all the diapers, wipes, outfits, blanket, pillow, bibs, gift card - we appreciate everything you did. Although, I'd like to apologize for my husband who neglected to open the gifts in front of everyone. I told him that he denied everyone their chance to oooh and aaah. But he's a man, so we need to cut him a little bit of slack. In the summer, when Charlotte can get around I will definitely bring her over to the office.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and that Santa was good to you. My parents got me a jogging stroller so that Charlotte and I can run around the neighborhood next summer. It even has speakers and a hook up for my MP3 player. wow! My best gift of all was being able to hold Charlotte yesterday even while she was on the ventilator. It's amazing what some snuggles and kisses can do for you.

On Christmas Eve my family came to my house to enjoy our traditional Christmas chop suey. Later that evening Brian and I went to the hospital and read a bit to Charlotte. That is until daddy fell asleep. He gave the nurses quite a giggle.

SANTA!!!!!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa stopped by the NICU yesterday for a chat with the parents and a quick pat on the head for all the babies. It was so great of him to come by. For a moment it felt like everything was normal for us parents. No tubes, no incubators, no wires - just us, our babies and the excitement of Christmas. People like Santa are just frickin awesome!

I even got a pic of all of us. This will come in handy just in case Charlotte gets a KrisKringlephobia like I had. Yes, I was scared of Santa growing up. My mother didn't get a decent picture of me on Santa's lap until I was almost 20. Hopefully Charlotte won't have that same irrational fear (but he is kind of intimidating...).

Our family room is complete and over the last few days I have been getting Charlotte's room ready. I have a couple more things to hang on the wall and then it's pretty much ready. Our house is almost back in order. We still have to finish the laundry room, but that's been put on the back burner until after Christmas. It's time to stop for a moment and just enjoy the season.

I went into my work this past Monday and handed in my resignation. Yep, I am officially a stay-at-home mom now. It feels weird being unemployed, but I'm glad that we can do this and that I can be there to take care of my little peanut when she comes home.

Speaking of our little peanut, she is doing great. As of yesterday, she was up to 3 pounds, 2 ounces. We think that quite a bit of that is water weight, which is supposedly quite common with preemies. I'm able to interact with her a lot more now - give her baths, change her clothes and even change her poopy diapers. I still get excited everytime I can change a diaper. I'm sure one day the thrill will wear off.

Here's a couple more pics. The first one is Charlotte showing off her new booties that one of the nurses gave her. Everytime I see this picture I think "Wow, she's getting so big", which she is, but check out the hands of the nurse holding her and that puts things into persepctive. The second one is our "family Christmas picture". I realize that it's not very Christmasy, but at least Brian and I put on a nice top.

FAQs

1. When is Charlotte coming home?
The doctors don't like to pinpoint a specific time, because they don't want you to hold them accountable to that. However, they do tell you that most of their premature babies will go home sometime around their due date. Charlotte was due on January 30th. There is a possibility that she could go home earlier, but that may require her to come home on oxygen or still eating with a feeding tube. Two options that we are willing to work with in order to have her home as soon as possible. The criteria for allowing her to go home is not a specific weight, but just that she is gaining weight, she's strong and that she is not having frequent drops in her stats (i.e. blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation).

2. Are you going back to work?
Not at present.

3. Are you moving anywhere?
Not at present.

4. How often do you go to the hospital?
Since I can't get my ass out of bed before 8am, I don't go in the mornings. Between 9am-noon, the NICU is "closed" while the doctors and nurses do their rounds. That's mainly for privacy reasons so that you don't hear the business of the other families around you. This works out pretty well for me because then I can take the morning for myself and get errands done or take care of things around the house (i.e. sit on the phone with insurance companies). Usually I go to the hospital around noon, stay until dinner time, come home and eat and then go back in the evening. So, if anyone ever wants to get ahold of me I would suggest calling me before 11am.

5. How is she doing?
Charlotte is doing great. Yesterday the doctors had planned to take her off of the ventilator again, but the little pip-squeak just couldn't wait and she took it out herself. She starting to wear clothes, which may not sound like a big deal, but anything that brings her into the realm of "normalcy" makes me so happy. And plus, she looks so darn cute in her teeny-tiny onesies. I'll try and get a pic today. She has been diagnosed with chronic lung disease (bronchopulmonary dysplasia to be exact), which means that with her lungs being so premature and her having already gone through two bad infections, she will be easily succeptible to lung infections. The nurses have told me that she can grow out of this in a year, but she will more than likely be left with asthma and will probably get chest colds more easily than other kids. So, don't be surprised if you see us constructing a bubble outside of our house when we get her home.
I read the other day in a book that Charlotte means "little, strong, courageous woman", and that is exactly what she is. Everytime I look at her she gives me strength.

6. Is she eating?
Yes, Charlotte is being fed breast-milk every two hours through a feeding tube. They increase the amount each day as she tolerates. Today she should be getting 6cc every two hours. The milk is supplemented by IV fats and other nutrients. Once she gets up around 13 or 14 ccs they will take her off the IV fluids. Next week they might let her try a bottle. At the moment her mouth is too small for any of the nipples and they don't want her to choke on it.

7. How much does she weigh?
2 pounds 10 ounces. The goal is for her to gain .5-1 ounce per day.

8. Are you sending out Christmas cards this year (no one has actually asked this, but I wanted to address it)?
No. I'm shooting for Casimir Pulaski Day cards this year (http://www.eiu.edu/~insight/pulaski/pulaski.htm). Or maybe just sometime in the new year. So, let me take this time to say Merry Christmas -Love, Brian, Mandi and Charlotte.

Two Steps Forward ... Two Steps Back

I haven't been on the computer much over the past week. Hence a week with no posts. I was busy enjoying my daughter. Last Monday Indiana Grandma got to hold her for the first time (see picture) and I got to hold her all week for hours and just watch her facial expressions. Unfortunately, Brian got a cold near the end of the week so he hasn't been able to hold her for awhile. But as long as he wore a mask he could go in and see her.

I got some good news from my hematologist last Tuesday and I don't have to take my twice daily blood thinner shots anymore. Hallelujah!! I feel so free. I also received some good news from my OB last Friday at my last appointment, and after seven long months of waiting I can finally do situps again! Seriously, I'm excited.

With her feedings increasing daily last week, Charlotte has started to put on weight. As of the last weigh-in she weighed 2lbs 4 oz (1.02 kilo) and measured 14 inches. Some of her saggy skin is finally starting to fill in. Yay!

But, as we already know, things don't stay smooth sailing forever in the NICU. Saturday night Charlotte started to have hourly heart rate drops and lots of fluid coming up from her lungs, which resulted in her having to be put on the ventilator again. Yesterday the doctors found some bacteria growing in a culture taken in the morning, and they have concluded that she has an infection in one of her IV lines. Why don't they just take it out, you ask? It's not quite that easy. This IV goes into her arm, up her arm, across her chest and ends directly above her heart so that they can get medication and nutrients to the right place quickly. Not the easiest thing to insert. So, in the immediate future, the doctors are giving her a cocktail of antibiotics through that line in the hopes that it will not only get rid of the infection in the rest of her body, but also clean out that line. The doctors are hoping that as soon as the antibiotics kick in they can start weaning her off of the ventilator.

AAArgh! I swear, when I look in the mirror I can see myself aging right before my eyes! By the time Charlotte gets home I'm going to be ready for assisted living, which may not be all that bad ....