- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Our Family
Image Credits: Brittany Richmond, Martha Howell, & Shane Read
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Update
HK's nurse & the charge nurse have found a little tear that may be causing HK's problem. This is a way better alternative than the formula intolerance.
Random info: her nurse moved here in the past year from Kingsport!
Picture from last night.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Random info: her nurse moved here in the past year from Kingsport!
Picture from last night.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Complications
HK is having some belly issues. She had an xray this morning & will have blood work in a little while. It could be the new mix for extra calories, a virus or infection.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, March 28, 2011
Going home???
We are written on the board for discharges "Skelton-fri?". Not sure how I feel about this. Michelle is emailing our other nurse friends to let them know. I told her we had to work our their schedules for coming to live with us!
HK with Michelle & Lindsay last night. See how happy she is?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Time for Dinner! and Update
**Michelle just told us that the spell last night was during a feeding, so it will not count.
I had a whole post typed out on my phone and it disappeared....sadness! Here's the short version:
HK took all of her feeds by mouth (except for one) from Saturday 2 am thru Sunday 5 am. She went from taking about half a bottle twice a day and needing some extra after nursing to full feeds! She was a rockstar! Sunday morning, she pulled her tube out part of the way, and Scarlett decided to go ahead and take it out since she had done so well. At her next feeding, Scarlett worked with her for 45 minutes and finally gave up and gave it through her feeding tube. She was protesting (or resting!) and continued to do so until Sunday night. We think she just wore herself out the day before.
She has now taken all of her feeds by bottle or nursing since 8pm last night. She's back to being a rockstar. :)
The nurse practitioner today said that if she continues to do well, we might go home at the end of the week. Her doctor just came on service this morning and came to talk with us today. He said she needs to go five days without having a spell (heart rate dropping) while asleep. She occasionally drops during a feeding, but he said that is normal. He doesn't want her going home and us or her pediatrician being worried about her dropping while she's asleep (that's not okay). I totally appreciate that! I am a little uneasy about suddenly going off the monitors and taking her home with nothing.
We have also asked several different people about how long to keep her "in" once we get home. We have been told anything from six months to two to three months. We were told definitely no church nursery for four months (this would be four months from her discharge). We are very thankful that we will be going home when the weather is warm and not during the winter or peak RSV season-it would be way longer! She got her first shot yesterday of the antibodies to help prevent RSV. It's $1500! (before insurance) She will get it again at least one more time. Obviously, we must be very careful to protect Hannah Kate from getting sick. It will be quite awhile before we are able to be out and about with her. Once we are, we will need to make sure people aren't touching her, getting in her face, holding her, etc. This is for her protection. Please don't be offended! It took a long time to get her here, and we would like to keep her as healthy as possible and avoid another hospital stay! One nurse practitioner told us that we should only allow grandparents to hold her. She said it uses calories for her to be held, passed around, etc. and she needs to use them to grow instead. We will have to be careful for the first year and then maybe we can be totally normal (is that possible?!). :) Thank you for understanding!
When Hannah Kate is home and we are semi-settled, we plan to have a private service for Rachel and Leah. We have debated about what to do so that it will be what we want and also not be too overwhelming. We appreciate your understanding as we try to do what is best for our family. Thank you to those who have asked-we really appreciate your concern.
I had a whole post typed out on my phone and it disappeared....sadness! Here's the short version:
HK took all of her feeds by mouth (except for one) from Saturday 2 am thru Sunday 5 am. She went from taking about half a bottle twice a day and needing some extra after nursing to full feeds! She was a rockstar! Sunday morning, she pulled her tube out part of the way, and Scarlett decided to go ahead and take it out since she had done so well. At her next feeding, Scarlett worked with her for 45 minutes and finally gave up and gave it through her feeding tube. She was protesting (or resting!) and continued to do so until Sunday night. We think she just wore herself out the day before.
She has now taken all of her feeds by bottle or nursing since 8pm last night. She's back to being a rockstar. :)
The nurse practitioner today said that if she continues to do well, we might go home at the end of the week. Her doctor just came on service this morning and came to talk with us today. He said she needs to go five days without having a spell (heart rate dropping) while asleep. She occasionally drops during a feeding, but he said that is normal. He doesn't want her going home and us or her pediatrician being worried about her dropping while she's asleep (that's not okay). I totally appreciate that! I am a little uneasy about suddenly going off the monitors and taking her home with nothing.
We have also asked several different people about how long to keep her "in" once we get home. We have been told anything from six months to two to three months. We were told definitely no church nursery for four months (this would be four months from her discharge). We are very thankful that we will be going home when the weather is warm and not during the winter or peak RSV season-it would be way longer! She got her first shot yesterday of the antibodies to help prevent RSV. It's $1500! (before insurance) She will get it again at least one more time. Obviously, we must be very careful to protect Hannah Kate from getting sick. It will be quite awhile before we are able to be out and about with her. Once we are, we will need to make sure people aren't touching her, getting in her face, holding her, etc. This is for her protection. Please don't be offended! It took a long time to get her here, and we would like to keep her as healthy as possible and avoid another hospital stay! One nurse practitioner told us that we should only allow grandparents to hold her. She said it uses calories for her to be held, passed around, etc. and she needs to use them to grow instead. We will have to be careful for the first year and then maybe we can be totally normal (is that possible?!). :) Thank you for understanding!
When Hannah Kate is home and we are semi-settled, we plan to have a private service for Rachel and Leah. We have debated about what to do so that it will be what we want and also not be too overwhelming. We appreciate your understanding as we try to do what is best for our family. Thank you to those who have asked-we really appreciate your concern.
Friday, March 25, 2011
I did so great updating last week, huh?! We are just waiting on her to be able to take all of her feedings by mouth. She gets one bottle & two nursing times per 12 hour shift. Today she took 30cc (full feed is 39) by bottle at 11 & barely nursed then fell asleep during our "session" at 2. She's doing great, & everyone comments on how well she's doing for her gestational age. She weighed 4lbs 14oz last night. Hopefully we will be out by April 8 because Wesley has to be at school that day & he will have to leave us.
We have a contract on our house now & will close at the end of April as long as the appraisal goes well this week!
Here are a couple of phone pics from this week.
We have a contract on our house now & will close at the end of April as long as the appraisal goes well this week!
Here are a couple of phone pics from this week.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
First Bottle!
3.10.11
Hannah Kate got to take her first bottle! She was only allowed to take 10cc, and Wesley had a hard time getting the bottle out of her mouth when she had finished that much! She LOVED it!
Nana and Papa came to visit too.
March 9, 2011
Thought bubble brought to you by Nurse Scarlett :)
I love this one.
Our room at "The Treehouse."
Sweet Feet
Be sure you scroll down to see her "no tube" pictures. Since I started the post yesterday and didn't finish until today, it got stuck down there!
March 8, 2011-4 weeks and 6 days old
March 8, 2011-4 weeks and 6 days old
How's the house?
Here's another popular question that deserves a blog post!
Most of the inside is painted. HK's room has three walls with one coat & one wall with two. I hope the color looks ok! We chose a green color that goes with her bedding. All of the siding is on & painted. All that's left is flooring, cabinets, & the rest of the painting. Wesley's dad will put down the hardwood, someone will put in carpet in the bedrooms, & Wesley is doing tile in the bathrooms, kitchen, & sunroom (this is the hold up because we are here & the house is there). Mr. Tenpenny is making the cabinets. They are built & the doors will be ready in a week. Hopefully HK will only live at her Nana & Papa's for a short time before she gets to move to her own house. (but we are VERY thankful for a place to live either way!) We are very blessed with family & friends who are able to help with the house!
Our other house is still for sale. We got an offer on it today, so hopefully we can get it sold!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Most of the inside is painted. HK's room has three walls with one coat & one wall with two. I hope the color looks ok! We chose a green color that goes with her bedding. All of the siding is on & painted. All that's left is flooring, cabinets, & the rest of the painting. Wesley's dad will put down the hardwood, someone will put in carpet in the bedrooms, & Wesley is doing tile in the bathrooms, kitchen, & sunroom (this is the hold up because we are here & the house is there). Mr. Tenpenny is making the cabinets. They are built & the doors will be ready in a week. Hopefully HK will only live at her Nana & Papa's for a short time before she gets to move to her own house. (but we are VERY thankful for a place to live either way!) We are very blessed with family & friends who are able to help with the house!
Our other house is still for sale. We got an offer on it today, so hopefully we can get it sold!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
When are you going home?
This is a very popular question! It deserves its own post!
**disclaimer: no one from the hospital will give us a date (I think they don't want us to be disappointed)-this is just our speculation. Everyone here says "around her due date (April 26)."
We are thinking maybe 2 weeks from now. As soon as she has her "lightbulb moment" & knows how to nurse, we will be almost ready to go home. She has to take all of her feedings by mouth (38cc a feeding as of today/40cc is an ounce). So far, the most she's had by bottle is 16 or 17cc. She gets one bottle a shift (they are 12 hour shifts) & can nurse twice a shift. That's three out of four feedings that she gets to work for her food (what she doesn't get goes down her feeding tube) & one time to rest.
She's doing well with the bottle & nursing & is able to suck a few times, breathe, & swallow (all very important!). She has gotten into a pattern of doing this which is called pacing-so that's great! She was 33 weeks when they let her officially start nursing & taking a bottle & is now 34 4/7 weeks. 35 weeks is when they normally expect babies to be able to do this, so she's very advanced (as we already knew!). Hannah Kate is doing awesome! God has blessed us in many ways!
Another popular answer: She weighed 2055g / 4lbs 8oz last night. We predict that she will be 5 pounds by the time we go home!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
**disclaimer: no one from the hospital will give us a date (I think they don't want us to be disappointed)-this is just our speculation. Everyone here says "around her due date (April 26)."
We are thinking maybe 2 weeks from now. As soon as she has her "lightbulb moment" & knows how to nurse, we will be almost ready to go home. She has to take all of her feedings by mouth (38cc a feeding as of today/40cc is an ounce). So far, the most she's had by bottle is 16 or 17cc. She gets one bottle a shift (they are 12 hour shifts) & can nurse twice a shift. That's three out of four feedings that she gets to work for her food (what she doesn't get goes down her feeding tube) & one time to rest.
She's doing well with the bottle & nursing & is able to suck a few times, breathe, & swallow (all very important!). She has gotten into a pattern of doing this which is called pacing-so that's great! She was 33 weeks when they let her officially start nursing & taking a bottle & is now 34 4/7 weeks. 35 weeks is when they normally expect babies to be able to do this, so she's very advanced (as we already knew!). Hannah Kate is doing awesome! God has blessed us in many ways!
Another popular answer: She weighed 2055g / 4lbs 8oz last night. We predict that she will be 5 pounds by the time we go home!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, March 18, 2011
Pictures with no tube! (If even for just a moment)
Jenna moved HK's feeding tube from her mouth to her nose on March 8. I talked her into letting me take a few pictures in between the move. (Thanks to Wesley for going all the way out to the car to get the good camera so I could take these!)
The picture at the bottom is after a little "help" in Photoshop to get the tape off of her face.
And here is Nurse Jenna!
We love this picture! It may be her birth announcement picture, so act surprised!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Phone Pictures.....2
3.2.11
Snuggling with Daddy on her ONE MONTH birthday!
We got a care package in the mail in honor of her one month birthday from friends at Elizabethton. :)
Wesley's favorite part of being in the hospital.....Ben & Jerry's!
3.8.11
First elevator ride (on our way to "The Treehouse")
Angela (Nurse Practitioner) came to check out HK as soon as she arrived. Angela is a friend of my Aunt Carol. She is SO sweet! We are thankful to have her here!
(a video from 3.9.11 at the end)
3.10.11
Nana and Papa came to visit (Papa hadn't seen her since the weekend after she was born!). He had a meeting for work somewhere, so he dropped Martha off with us and then came back to pick her up at the end of the day.
FIRST BOTTLE! She was only allowed to have 10cc....Wesley had a hard time getting the bottle away from her when she had finished the 10!
Burping position.....she looks like an elf.
3.11.11
I put HK in her pink donut for head shaping (like a good mother) and decided to take a nap. I woke up to this......Wesley looked at me very seriously and said, "She was so mad at you for putting her in the pink donut. She just couldn't sleep, so I had to get her out and hold her." Wrapped. Around. Her. Finger.
We were SO thankful when we finally had Lindsay again!
3.12.11
Scarlett was HK's nurse the day after we moved to "The Treehouse."
She helped HK come up with her thought bubble thought. :)
Snuggling with Daddy
Very advanced paci holding....
3.13.11
doctor's orders......POP THE TOP!
HK had been keeping her temperature up well, so they popped her top.
3.14.11
Rounds with HK's medical team
Hearing test-they put earphones on her ears and things on her head to see if her nerves react to the sounds. Pretty neat. She passed.
Physical therapy and occupational therapy came to check out HK. They said she looked great and brought guidelines for positioning her in bed to help with her head shaping. (Kristy, they put girly stickers on the paper...a unicorn, rainbow, and a flower (I think)-you would be proud!)
Wesley is pointing to HK so that you will know that the thought bubble is coming from her head!
Wesley thought this was pretty clever. :)
3.9.11
Pink donut and a paci
Phone Pictures.....
These are out of order, I'm not sure what happened......
3.16.11
Super cute outfit from Aunt Carol! (She texted me from the Carter's Outlet and said she just ended up there somehow!)
3.15.11
Got a real crib! (Exciting even though it looks like prison)
Eye exam.....I left for this one! They dilate her eyes, then the eye doctor uses an instrument to hold her eyes open and exam the blood vessels. Her eyes looked great, but they were immature on one side. He will check them again in 2 weeks, but thinks everything should be fine.
They are looking for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) which is why Stevie Wonder is blind.
3.14.11
Michelle was back!!!!! After about 2 weeks of not seeing her (she kept getting shuffled around because of the high census of babies), we were VERY thankful to have her back again!
Visitors
3.7.11
Michael came to visit and brought us Chik-fil-a!
3.9.11
My principal (Mrs. Greene aka PG) and assistant principal (Mr. McKinney aka JW) from Gray, TN, came to visit while they were at a meeting in Nashville. Also that night-our nurse was from JC and knew JW's parents. Small world! She was super sweet and reminded me of Kathy, our kindergarten assistant at school.
Michael came to visit and brought us Chik-fil-a!
3.9.11My principal (Mrs. Greene aka PG) and assistant principal (Mr. McKinney aka JW) from Gray, TN, came to visit while they were at a meeting in Nashville. Also that night-our nurse was from JC and knew JW's parents. Small world! She was super sweet and reminded me of Kathy, our kindergarten assistant at school.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)