Long Time, No post.

I know, I know. I've been bad about posting. Life has been hectic. I attended a Doula (Paid Labor assistant) workshop down in San Diego last weekend. It was 3 long, tiring, intensive days. It was interesting. I am going toward my doula certification so thi was one step closer. Emma went with me while the kids stayed home with Dad. She enjoyed every minute of all the girls wanting to her.

Speaking of Emma, She is up to 6 lbs. 1 oz! Just a tad smaller than caden was at birht (6lbs. 12 oz.). He rlabs FINALLY came back normal at 8.2. She is also working hard to make red blood cells and her labs showed that as well. No more visits to the pediatrician until her 4 month visit where she will get her 4 month vaccines.

Emma saw the eye doctor again. Still stage 2 ROP. Still praying it doesn't progress. She has another check next wednesday. Hopefully, it will be regressing. We shall see.

Other than that not a whole lot going on with her. She is acting more like a normal newborn. She likes to be awake at night. Wants to be held constantly. Wants to eat right when my hot plate of food is set down in front of me. :)

As for the other two. They're doing ok. Caden has gotten a referral to the autism clinic to evaluate him for autism. We're thinking he may be high functioning/aspergers. If not he's just brilliant, but there are some little "cadenisms" that are just a bit "off". So we'll see what happens with that.

I will try and update more regularly but with the doula gig and being a "full time" mom again with no nanny it may be a bit less often than before.

Just hanging out!

Disclaimer: No baby was harmed in the making of this photograph. Do not try this at home it may result in too much cuteness for one household.

Just when I thought we were in the clear...

Emma had another eye exam. The last eye exam showed that her Stage 1 ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) was slowly starting to regress. Well, today showed a completely different story. Emma has progressed completely to stage 2 almost 3. She will be checked again in a week. If she progresses to stage 3 then she will have laser surgery done. Hopefully this will keeop it from progressing any further. Stage 3 is where blindness and SEVERE vision problems happen. If for some reason lasering doesn't stop it ands it ontinues to progress than she will have full on surgery. The laser procedure has some risks including drop in heartrate, blood pressure, and opxygen saturation. Apparently it is not too uncommon to jave breathing issues during and/or after the procedure in infants as small as she is and there is a chance she will need to be put back on a ventilator or oxygen for some time afterwards. We're just praying at this point that none of that has to happen. Aside from her eyes she has another wieght check and blood culture tomorrow. Hopefully her levels haven't dropped any and she's gaining weight. We'll see. On a good note, her original due date is TOMORROW! She was born exactly 3 months early so she will be 3 months old tomorrow! My how the time has flown by!!!

E X H A U S T E D

It's 2:15 a.m. I've been up since 1 a.m. I woke up to Emma's angelcare monitoring alarming. I checked on her and she appeared fine and the alarm only sounded a second. I went back to sleep. About 3 minutes later it sounded again. This time it alarmed for longer. I checked her again and she was doing rapid breathing movements which is indicative that she may have had a spell and was self resolving and breathing rapidly to make up for it. I turned on the lights changed her diaper, fed her. After about 2 ounces (she's up to about 3 ounces a feeding) I went to burp her and she puked ALL over me. UGGHH. She also pooped again. So I changed her and resumed feeding her. She ate another ounce and is now back in her bed. I'm awake but exhausted. Afraid to sleep in case she stops breathing. I can't/won't wake Sean since he's sick and praying that Emma isn't getting sick and hoping that the events of the night are all just pure coincidences. So, I'm up pumping and about to try and get some rest. We'll see how that goes!

Calgon take me away

It's been one of those where I wonder how and why I do it. Caden has been "resistant" all dsay long. I could say the sky was blue and he would argue its not. Nothing I say is right and "no" seems to be the only word he understands. To top it off Sean and Lily are both sick. I am exhausted and praying Emma doesn't get sick. After a long day we were just about to put the kids in bed. Had them in their jammies and we walk into the kids room and Caden had found some orange paint (not sure where he got it from) and it was ALL over the carpet in their walk in closet. It didn't come out well, but i'm too tired to scrub harder. We threw him in the tub and went to cleaning. While we were cleaning Lily decided she needed a bath too and we found her fully dressed in the tub with Caden splashing away. it was too much not to laugh. So it's been one of those days, and I'm ready for bed...

Doctor visit update.

Not good news, not exceptionally bad either. Her labs came back., She dropped from 8.2 down to 7.8. Her body is showing signs of trying to make more blood cells though so at this time they won't transfuse. If her color starts to turn pale, or her heart starts beating faster to make up for it, showing signs of distress than they will.

She is up to 4 lbs 11 oz. Still not gaining as fast as they would like. They want me to supplement 2 feedings a day with neosure 22 calorie formula. I am not thrilled about this but I'll do what I have to do. Guess daddy can take on another night feeding! LOL. They are trying to find a way to get me some human milk fortifier to add those extra 2 calories per ounce. We'll see what they can do. She goes back for labs and another doctor visit on friday. Hopefully, there will be better news.

Emma's 1st professional pictures

Re-Birthing

Yep, you read it right. Tonight, Emma went through the process of re-birthing. Essentially, you get in a tub of warm water with the baby,you set the baby in your lap or tummy stroke the baby gently, talk to the baby in a soothing voice and let the baby slowly make its way to the breast. This creates an atmosphere close to a water birth. It is supposed to "erase" any trauma from birth or effects from trauma at birth and also help breastfeeding issues.

So Emma and I hopped in the tub. She got SO comfortable she was fallinng asleep. I brought her to my breast and she rooted until she latched on, without a shield!!! She nursed beautifully in the tub, skin to skin for a good 20 minutes. I was so amazed. I was skeptical of the whole process but it seems to have worked. She has NEVER nursed that well without a shield on my LEFT side (she hates my left side and has only latched on once before without a shield). We got out after nursing, dressed her and she is sleeping soundly.

After church today we went to train days in Fullerton. They had an amtrack train, the original disneyland train and tons of model trains there. We spent about 4 hours there. Caden LOVED the model trains. I think it might be something fun for him and daddy to get into together. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera. :(

Tomorrow Emma has a recheck on her bloodwork and her weight. Hopefully all is well. She has been eating at least 3 ounces a feeding so she should be good to go. Her color looks great and she is peeing fine. So all looks good. Let's hope the lab results show the same.

For all the Emma Fans

I thought I would update sooner rather than later. Emma continues to do well. She successfully nursed without the nipple shield today on both sides. I will just continue to attempt it with each feeding and eventually we'll get there.

Caden and Lily can't get enough of the baby. They give her lots of love and kisses. We've even caught Lily wandering around the house while Emma is sleeping looking for her and saying "baaaahhh" Which is what she calls the baby.

Nights are going...alright. We're left tired in the morning though. Emma likes to eat and then not go back to sleep at her 1 a.m. feeding. We're thinking she is still used to the NICU schedule. They used to do her bath and weight and then feed at 1 a.m. So she is used to being up a bit longer. Mommy and Daddy are not. Last night Emma ended up sleeping on Daddy's chest since daddy needed rest.

All in all things ontinue to go well. She has her bloodwork again on monday to check her anemia. Hopefully she has gained some wieght and her levels are going up and not down.

Just a quick "we're alive" update.

Life is hectic. The days have been filled with eye appointments, dr. appointments and blood tests for anemia b/c she did eat for 8 hours straight, home health visits, rescheduleing occupational therapy visits. I swear every day theres a new appointment to go to or reschedule b/c of a different appointment. I'm worn out. LOL.

Emma's eyes are doing well the Stage 1 ROP is beginning to regress. She has another appointment to check its regression in 2 weeks. It appears that her eyes will be JUST fine. YAY!

On wednesday, Emma hadn't eaten for a few feedings and was rather lethargic. After her eye appointmen we ended up taking her to the ped. They ran some blood tests. She is still anemic and her hematocrit went down very slightly, but "nothing to get worked up about" yet. After her blood draw she decided to eat REALLY well for about 30 minutes. Guess she's just like any other kid. She shaped right up once we saw the doctor.

Today was her home health visit (also my very first day alone with the kids, no hubby, no nanny.) She is up to 4 lbs. 9 oz. She is doing well. Looks great. Nothing really to report. No news is good news in this case.

The kids are adoring her. They give her LOTS of kisses. Lily says "BAAA" for baby. It's really cute. She has aquired the nickname "Chimi" for chimichanga since she's always swaddled like a burrito since she can't quite regulate her temperature well enough not to be. The kids (yes, all 3 of them) took a bath together night before last. Maybe I'm crazy, but they seemed to enjoy it. Emma likes her "safer bather" bath pillow thing and fell asleep while the older ones splashed. Bathtime ended though when Lily got soap in her eyes and Caden dumped a cup of water all over mama. LOL.

Here are a few more pics of the past week home. The updates will be further spread out now that she is home. I will update at least once a week though. Enjoy.