Antiques Roadshow

You may remember, back last summer, how very excited we were to attend Antitques Roadshow! Click here for a refresher!

Well, FINALLY, the recording day that we attended is going to air on PBS this MONDAY night! Check your listings for the Spokane WA episodes!

No, we didn't actually get interviewed with any of our "treasures" - but we did stand behind a few people while they were being interviewed - so you have to watch the background "extras" to maybe see us! :)

(You HAVE to click this video to appreciate that last paragraph...)



Of course we'll watch (it's on for the next 3 weeks - 3 different episodes all recorded in Spokane) - and of course, if we see ourselves you can bet I'll blog about it!

Update on Meredi...

So I'm feeling kind of stupid b/c it seems like I always have to go back and correct previous updates!

Well, true to form - my Two Steps Back update wasn't accurate - which is good, I'm just sorry I didn't know it before I shared it.

Turns out her apneas were all obstructive! So she's still good on her apnea day counting. I think today is day 4 of 7...I'll have to double check with the nurse when I go back for her lunch feed.

AND - the spitty uppy ordeals she was having w/ her feeds appears to be due to mommy's poor burping skills. We've been more diligent in beating burps out of her and she has been doing just fine. Duh - you'd think it would occur to us to start with the obvious fixes, wouldn't you? Poor Meredith - she may want to rethink her choice in families!

Yesterday (Friday), she nippled her full 72cc feed for Gayle (who, btw, hates to see her name over and over again in our blog - lol - she's really going to love scrolling down to see her picture! And, if we didn't love her so darned much, we wouldn't include her here at all! LOL)



So she did a full dinner feed, the night nurse got one of the three night feeds to be a full nipple feed, and she just did a full breakfast feed for me...so 3/5 of her feeds have been full nipple feeds. I'm so proud of our little peanut!

I hate to even say it out loud, but it seems like her little lights are turning on and she's getting it. There is still room for setbacks - she's just 36wks today (and I think my ob would argue she's only 35w4d) so she truly is doing amazingly well. We are just so anxious to have her at home with us that each minute she spends in the hospital seems like an eternity to us!

Hopefully we'll continue to have good news to share. The nurse, whose name rhymes with "Sail" - said she'd be back on Tuesday "to fill out discharge papers with us" - of course it was just optimistic joking - but it COULD happen. Keep praying that Meredi continues on the path she's on - she's so close!

Jacob's Pinewood Derby

Here's our cheesy Webelo holding his way cool "car". He and Brandon designed it to look like a Tech Deck and it turned out GREAT!









Getting ready to race...



The first award Jacob won was "Best Fuel Economy"



And then he was presented 3rd Place Over All (or is it Overall?). And I apologize if the sound is poor - it was recorded in a gym full of people!





Our Jace and our neighbor's Jace in deep conversation...



While the Cub's were having their derby, the girls all got together and had a "Girly Salon" and did each other's nails.

Here is Maddie doing nails (in gray shirt)...



And here is Maggie getting her nails painted. She later had her toenails painted green!



Joseph had a hard time getting excited about the derby - and even harder time getting excited about mom bringing out the camera!



Jared enjoyed watching the races though. Man, it's only a month until HE is in Cub Scouts! (Now, before anyone says anything...remember my entry a few days back about cutting the boy's hair...ok, nuff said!)



And just when I think I'm done recapping our evening at the Pinewood Derby, a little voice in my head says, "Hey Stupid, you took 8 kids to the derby, not 6!" I failed to take a single picture of Malorie or Melanie during the derby. They were there, they were cute - they just didn't get their pictures taken! I'll make it up to them another day w/ a blog entry of their own...

March of Dimes

Most of you will remember that our family participated in the March of Dime's Walk America around this time last year - collecting donations for the cause (premature birth being our main reason for doing it) - and many, many of you supported our efforts!

This year, obviously, we're smack in the middle of our own premature birth...and we, obviously (again), won't be walking. We could still collect funds and just not walk - but honestly, I don't have the energy to do it.

SOOOOO - this year, we've chosen to participate with another team long distance.

My friend Heather, who has had a preemie and a niece who was a preemie, will be walking for the cause that we strongly support!

We're asking you to please consider clicking the link below and donating to their team what you would have donated to ours if we were able to walk this year. Thank You!!



I wish it as a little darker and easier to see - but if you click on the image above, it will take you to Heather's site - please consider donating for Malorie, Melanie, Joseph & Meredi...it's all the same cause, just a long-distance pledge this year!

One step forward - Two steps back...

I talked to Gayle tonight and it seems Meredi threw up abt 10cc's of her last feed. She thinks it was probably more than just a "burp" with a little extra on the side, but it is a possibility. We'll have to wait and see how she does at her next feed. We talked about maybe taking her back to the 3hr feeds w/ less volume for a few more days and letting her work her way up more gradually...

She also had a couple of apneas...Gayle thinks there was some central action in there, and she's seen enough of these things to know what she's talking about, but we'll have to wait until in the morning for the doctor to have the final ruling on it. I hope hope hope Gayle was wrong - but I'm having a hard time convincing myself that she was.

So, for all the good we did yesterday, tonight I feel like we're sinking in quicksand. And I'm sitting here shaking my head as I type this b/c WE'VE DONE THIS BEFORE! We've done this very thing with all of our preemies! We'd have days that made us think we'd be taking the baby home in no time, followed by the next day that made us feel hopeless...and somehow it just all works out. So tonight I'm discouraged, and at the same time I know it'll be short lived. I'm just really missing my girlie tonight!

A new day...

Meredi had kind of a lazy nurse night and didn't nipple as well - but she did better this morning when I fed her - and our beloved Gayle is here today and things just always seem to go better when she's here. I think mostly b/c she keeps me from losing my mind. You know, "If mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" I've said before how wonderful the NICU staff is here - and it truly is. As expected though, there are a few "special" nurses/doctors who really stand out and make this whole experience easier for us. I just didn't want it to sound as if on the days we don't have Gayle or Roy or Nancy or Barb or Tammhy or Wanda or Marilyn or or or or...that we're stuck with schleps! We've never had a bad nurse! (Does that keep me out of the doghouse? I'd hate for that to be misunderstood!)

Anyway, she has been officially switched to 4 hr feeds now and her bottle volume is up to 72cc's. I think she did 47 this morning - I can't remember and I can't do the math in my head...she had 25cc's left, so if it's important for you to know exactly what she did, you're going to have to do the math! :)

We're trying to get her cares moved to 8, 12, & 4 - right now they're at 6, 10 & 2 - so we'll only be able to stay for 2 cares today. Yes, that's killing me! But, it will give her a chance to rest more w/o mom here pushing her to wake up and eat. She'll get a little rest and grow time and hopefully be ready to "click" in the next day or so!

She's just beautiful today (of course she's beautiful every day) but she just looked so awake and so...not preemie, I guess!! As always, thanks for the continued love and support. Our family knows that we couldn't do this without our friends and family!

Mid-Afternoon Feed...still Wednesday

53/53

She did it!!

Now the next step is to let her sleep 4 hrs between feeds (instead of 3) and give her 7occ's and see how she does!

Wednesday Lunch Update...

This morning she nippled the 40/53cc's and we were thrilled...

For lunch she just did 41/53. We're hoping this is it. She gets so tired though. I'm thinking it's going to be hard, at first, for her to keep this up. But Roy is working magic with her today - we're so glad to have him!!



Just for fun, here is a better picture of Meredi's home away from home! This is where we spend our time together.



Here's how she does her thing -

Wow - you guys are good!

If you didn't get a chance to read the last entry (it's probably just as well, b/c it was pretty disjointed) in a nutshell I asked for prayers that Meredi would "click" and start eating/nippling her feeds better AND that I'd have the nerve to bring up the subject of stopping the caffeine with the doctor.

SO...this morning, Meredi nippled 40 of 53ccs...which is GREAT!!!!! I'm very anti-metric, and I hate that everything they do here is measured metrically...but 40 of 53 is so close to being a "full feed". I don't expect that this means she'll do that well, or improve to 53 of 53 by her next feed by any means...but this is a huge milestone!!! So thanks to those of you who have kept our angel girl in your thoughts and prayers - they're helping - she's getting it!

AND...I talked with our nurse, Roy, this morning about the caffeine before the doctor did rounds. He offered to bring up the subject with the doctor for me - and before we could finish our own discussion about it, the doctor showed up - Sooooo, I took a deep breath and blurted it out - telling her I was worried that Meredith would get the whole eating thing down in the next few days and if we didn't stop the caffeine now -we'd still have a week to wait even after she was ready to go home. The doctor agreed with me (wow) and said that Meredi is officially DONE with caffeine now. She had her last dose of it last night and will not get any more!

NOW...we just need to pray that her little brain can remember to keep her breathing - and can keep from having any central apnea spells between now and discharge. Which - if she could get her feeds down, could be 7 days from now ... given there is no more apnea! I hate to get my hopes up...but they are - I'd love to be taking her home in 7 days!

Tuesday

You know it's going to be a boring entry when the best I can come up with for the title is the day of the week! *sigh*

I did get a little happy news today - apparently, Meredi hasn't had any apnea for 2 full days and so far none today. So back on that day when I said she had it - she really didn't. When the nurse and I looked at the little strip that prints out showing her heart rate/O2level/resp, we were pretty sure it was apnea that would "count" - it's called "central apnea" when the brain actually stops doing it's job and forgets to breathe....apparently it was really "obstructive" - when she chokes a little and messes up her rhythm. (Did anyone really want to know all of That?)

So today is day 3 of no apnea - if she makes it another day I think I'll pull on my big girl boots and ask the doctor about discontinuing the caffeine to see what happens.

When the doctor and I talked about it some other day...(they truly are all running together)...we weren't in a huge hurry to stop the caffeine b/c Meredi was still having such a hard time nippling full feeds.

Well...today they sent an occupational therapist in to watch Meredi while she took her bottle and she offered me a ton of helpful advice (Baby #9 and apparently I still don't know what I'm doing!) Anyway, we changed the nipple on her bottle to a faster flow, thinking it would help to keep her from having to work so hard to eat, and save her strength to be able to eat longer.

Soooooo...if she can eat faster, and hopefully move up to full feeds in the near future - I don't want caffeine to be our hold up. (This is all making sense in my blurry mind - don't feel bad if it's not making sense to you...odds are I'm thinking it much more clearly than I'm typing it!) We'll just do a Reader's Digest version here and say: Please pray that Meredi "clicks" and gets this bottle feeding thing - and pray that I have the guts to ask the doctor to consider discontinuing the caffeine.



The rest of the clan is doing well. I was feeling well enough to give the boys hair cuts last night - they look ok...I forgot the part about feeling ok ONLY b/c I'm still taking painkillers. They're kind of big-ticket painkillers...so if you see our boys and think their hair looks questionable, please just tell them they look good - and hopefully by the time it grows out again, I'll be clean and sober!

Jacob has his Pinewood Derby tomorrow night. I am excited to go to that with him. I have missed SO MUCH during this pregnancy and being on bedrest. I may have to recruit grandma to come with us since I'll need to take the littles with us - but I'm so happy to go. He and dad made his car to look like - oh wait...I probably shouldn't disclose the design yet!! I promise to update later this week with pictures! Trust me though, it's so darn cute...errrr, I mean Cool. (only mom's can think derby cars are cute)

Well, this boring "Tuesday" review is getting longer and longer and I'm really not saying much that's important. Our family sure does appreciate our loyal readers (read - beloved friends and family members). Your support is just priceless to us! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do. For your thoughts and prayers, for those who are nearby and offer your help (even though we're really bad at accepting it...know we appreciate the offer). The phone calls, the cards, the email - every little thought in our behalf is just precious to us! Thank you!

More of the same...

We've figured out that days of the week just don't make a difference here in the hospital. Friday's aren't special - Monday's don't really stink any worse than any other day. It's all just more of the same! And sadly, it's becoming way too familiar - we're itching to get back to being a real family. Hopefully in a couple more weeks we should be there!

Here is our princess! I was thrilled today to notice that her melon is looking more like a real baby. She had that soft skull thing going on last week and it was kind of odd looking - but today her little head was so perfectly round and her little soft hair is just precious! (you know, it's important milestones like this that MUST be documented)



Mom and Meredi - our nurse Gayle took this Sunday afternoon. Now y'all know where I spend my Meredith time - in a blue glider that makes a horribly embarrassing "air" sound when you sit down on it, and backed into a corner - Luckily, it's just magical to have Meredith in my arms and none of the "ick" of the hospital even matters when I'm holding her. And like I mentioned the other day - we have had so many wonderful nurses who help pass the time with laughter and smiles...it's probably not as bad as it could be. And we know there are people here who have it so much worse than we do...if we can just keep our perspective in check, things don't seem so bad.



Miss Meredi passed up her birth weight last night. She was 5 lb 11.25 oz. So she's 1/4 ounce bigger than she was when she was born. However, I also noticed that they documented her as being 18.5 inches last night. We were told, when she was born, that she was 19.25 inches. So either she's shrinking, or someone in the delivery room got a little carried away when the documented her length!

Don't put mom in charge!

Well, I guess you can put me HALF in charge...of the camera that is! I have a couple of great pictures of Meredi from today - however, I forgot the camera at the hospital, so I can't share them yet.

Meredith is doing just great. She's doing much better on her feeds. She's up to nippling about 1/2 of each feed - the rest is gavaged (nose tube).

She is having fewer and fewer episodes of apnea. The caffeine seems to be doing it's job. I asked for clarification about the caffeine treatment today. The way it's done is this - the baby gets a single dose of caffeine daily. Once she stops having apnea for about 2 days, the doctor will order the caffeine to stop. Then we wait 2 days for it to work out of her system...THEN...we count down five more days - if she can stay apnea free for all of those caffeine-free days, then she can go home. So we're looking at at least 10 days - pretty much 10 more days from any day she has apena...and she had it today...while sleeping on my chest. Our dear nurse Gayle walked up and rubbed her back a little and said she had stopped breathing - WHAT!? Holy smokes - if I had been holding her at home, I wouldn't have had a clue that she wasn't breathing - even while I was holding her against myself...right under my own chin. So, as painfully heartbreaking as it is to have her away from us right now - it's very obvious that she needs to be where she is and we're grateful to be so close to such a wonderful NICU with such amazing doctors and outstanding nurses. They make it a little easier to stand! (Just a little...)

We don't know for sure who our nurse will be tomorrow - Gayle is off Monday - BUT, I do know that our friend Barb will be the receptionist in the intermediate nursery...oh, did I mention that Meredi was moved to the intermediate nursery? I didn't! She was moved Saturday night! This is where the "closer to going home" babies go while the "still very sick" babies stay in the actual NICU-NICU. So this is a GREAT milestone! Anyway, Barb will be there to hold my hand through tomorrow...thank goodness! I'm sure our nurse will be great, it's just so scary to me not to know ahead of time! I need to start snapping pictures of these guys to have - they really become like family while you're a patient and we love them dearly!

Sorry about the pictures - I'll get them up here tomorrow when I'm in possession of our camera again!

Where did THAT week go?

It was one week ago today that I woke up and thought "Hmmm, something is kind of funky" - had a few weird contractions - then things were fine - then started timing contractions again in the evening - then the next thing we knew, Brandon and our doctor and I were all staring each other face to face in Labor & Delivery!

After just 12 hours or so of Magnesium, the expert decision was made that it wouldn't be wise to continue to stress an already worn out uterus. We decided we'd be grateful for the time the baby got, but it was time to stop tempting fate and remove the risk to mom and baby and just get her here, safe and sound. And that we did - it was just one week ago that we met sweet Meredith for the first time. One week! She's so much a part of our entire family that it's hard to remember that we've only really known her for seven days. Crud, the kids just know OF her - NICU is pretty strict about children visiting during RSV season, so none of the kids have even seen her yet - only pictures. We're considering bringing everyone up to the viewing window tomorrow - but I have mixed feelings. I keep saying that it might be too hard on the kids to see her and then to have to leave...reality is, I think it'll be to hard on ME to have the kids see her and then have to leave. Malorie and Melanie are so excited for Meredi to come home, they can hardly stand it. I don't know how many times Malorie said to me last night, "I wish Meredith could come home now." *sigh* I truly feel her pain!

The doctor did start the caffeine yesterday. We're hoping that this will help reduce the number of apnea spells she has and help her save her strength for eating. We know she's just chugging up the hill right now and before we know it she'll reach the top and start coasting down the "easy" side! It's just hard to watch her chug.

Her weight is up again - I believe they said she's 5 lb 9 oz (5 - 11 at birth). That's close anyway - they gave it to me in grams and I am seriously metrically challenged, so when I looked at the nurse like she had three heads, she said "Oh, that's about....5'9oz." So she's close anyway! Her bili level hasn't gone back up so we are thrilled to have avoided that hurdle all together!!

We're cautiously hoping that next weekend will be when she can come home. We have nothing to base that on than what her gestational age will be, and how well she appears to be doing now. We know better than to ask for a date from the doctors/nurses and they know better than to promise one! :)

Everyone at home is doing well. It's been taxing on the three little kiddos to have such abnormal schedules - but luckily for us we have friends who have been helping us who are absolutely priceless. The girls love to have Melina come and play and the love having Lisl and her son Jace come over too. Poor Joseph hates anyone who comes when mom and dad are gone - but he's doing better. I just can't wait until we're a normal family who can just be at home again!

Here are pictures from today. Brandon's boss in Olympia sent flowers to the house yesterday. We were very touched. Really above and beyond for someone who has never met the family and who lives/works clear across the state from us. We really appreciate his kindness.



Don't let her fool you - she's really not drinking that bottle. It's all for show! :) She has gone from drinking the 10-15cc's she used to nipple from a bottle, down to 2-5cc's. Of course we'd love for her to be doing better, but this is considered normal for a preemie - so we're ok with it. We just keep reminding ourselves how great she's doing overall, and then little things like this don't' seem so daunting!



These daddy/daughter pictures just melt my heart. I admit that I sometimes feel guilty when I see them - I wish that I had been able to stay pregnant longer and not make Brandon have to go through the heartache of NICU. I guess it is what it is and you take what you get - lemonade out of lemons, blah blah blah...I am grateful, however, that Brandon is the rock that he is. I absolutely couldn't do this without him...and I can't imagine anyone taking his place. I can't imagine another father being more gentle and more sensitive with a preemie...and I also can't imagine there to be another father who would be more protective, aware and attentive with a preemie! What a lucky little girl - she has no idea just how powerful the members of her team are!! And what a lucky wife - who does know how powerful her team is, and is so grateful to be a member!!

Day 4 - she's still ours.

Man, it's so hard to believe that she's really here, and that she's really ours! It really feels like we're going to wake up from this funky dream and find that Meredith isn't really here yet. Ok, that would be really nice - we'd love to give her a couple more weeks of baking time - alas, no longer an option!



Today we have one of our favorite nurses. Gayle will be here today, tomorrow and Sunday. I don't know yet what I'm going to do on Saturday or next week when she's not on - but I am so glad for the next couple of days! I finally got up the nerve yesterday and asked that one nurse in particular not be our nurse again. It's totally a personality thing between her and us - but it's enough that I couldn't stand it anymore. I don't expect any of the nurses to entertain ME/us - all they really need to do is compitently care for my baby...which this nurse can do...but I happen to know that this NICU nursing staff contains several nurses who can keep my baby alive AND not make us feel like our questions are stupid, or that we are in the way, or that our baby is just part of the job. I'm just relieved that all it took was for me to ask and that I finally got the nerve up to do so! :)

Gayle had us pose for our "first family photo" today too! (Remeber the "tree trunk" photos of my legs from the last entry? Well, my doctor did start me on a medication, lasix, for the edema, so hopefully we'll see some quick improvements. In the meantime, be kind! LOL)



Aunt Lindsay came up for a visit last night. This was the first peek the two of them got of one another - aren't they just cute?



Meredith is doing well today. More apnea, but honestly - even though it's disappointing to see, it wasn't unexpected. We know that she knows how to nipple feed - so that makes it a little bit easier to handle on the days she just won't do it. Her weight is continuing to climb back up. We just can't complain a single bit about how this little girlie is doing - she's a champ and we are so proud of her!

Thank you Aunt Kara, Uncle Todd, Miranda, Benji, Alice & Bryant...

Imagine my surprise when I came back down to the postpartum floor to see this cute bouquet of flowers near the sign in/out book....and it has MY NAME on the card! SCORE!

The days are beginning to catch up with me - I'm emotional and exhausted. New issues are surfacing and old ones are holding their own. To be surprised with flowers really made my day! Thank you for thinking of our family and our sweet new Meredi! We sure love and miss you guys!

Hard to believe...

It's hard to believe that Meredith will be four days old - and at the same time she's ONLY four days old. It just feels like her little spirit has always been a part of our family. She really doesn't feel like the "new baby" like the little person that we need to meet and get to know. We've always known Meredi! She is truly, such a sweet little love!

Today was a milestone day for Meredi. Today she nippled parts of several feeds. I think she nippled 40ccs all together...she went from knowing NOTHING about sucking on a bottle yesterday - to sucking down 40cc's today! Oh she's so wonderful!

She has had a couple apnea strips! Darn it! Dr. B assures me that apnea will not be what holds her back. He is sure it's all going to click together for her in the near future!

Let's see, what else - her weight went back up a couple of ounces tonight - that's always good. I am pretty sure the scale said 5lb 7.2 oz (5lb 11oz at birth).

They took the IV out of her hand, which was a beautiful thing! She's down to just the O2 monitor cord that goes to her foot - and the cord that connects to the three leads on her chest. There may be an end in site!

My mind is drawing a blank right now - there is no doubt that I have gotten NOWHERE near enough sleep in the last four nights. I catch myself nodding off while sitting up in bed typing in our blog (for example) - or while sitting with Gracie in the nursery. I honestly don't remember my body being this physically exhausted - ever! Hopefully, sleeping in my own bed tomorrow will help me relax and settle down some.

Here are some pictures from today. I am too tired to work them in to a narrated place within the blog - so you get the pictures and my valiant, yet exhausted effort to tell you a little about each one!

These first two go together! I can't tell you just how very much in love I am with this baby girl! I can't stare in to her eyes long enough, I can't inhale her sweet breath fast enough, I can't whisper sweet nothings into her ear long enough! I just can't get enough of this baby!



But, by golly, I did get to kiss her sweet nose! This is truly the most favorite thing of mine to do with my babies!



Ok, this one is just gross, I know. My legs and feet and ankles have swollen beyond recognition! The skin on my legs and ankles, especially, is so tight it feels like it's going to split open. I've shown it to a few people with medical backgrounds, and they don't seem to be overly concerned...so I guess I'll just live with it - but isn't it DISGUSTING! They look like stupid tree trunks!



Mom and her new little friend, Gracie (or Meredi or Meredith...all three names seem to fit her so perfectly...I can't decide which will be the one I like best).



Daddy and the girlie, figuring out this bottle business! We're so darn proud of her today. In her entire life she has never eaten from a bottle - and today she just "got it" - not enough to call her a pro, but enough that we're confident that she'll have the hang of this in no time! What a lucky little girl to have a daddy who could take the day off from work to spend it with her at the hospital.



Ok, so sometimes I take pictures "just because"...I'm not even sure why I took this one - I figure I must have taken it because, well, she was being so cute!!



And finally, a side shot of daddy's big, tough hands, teaching our tiny, itty-bitty, brand new, fragile daughter how to drink from a bottle...*sigh*

She's still doing wonderfully

53 hours - she's only been around for 53 hours and already she has us wrapped around her little, tiny fingers!

She has graduated to an open crib which means she has passed the test of maintaining her body heat. She is still only on room air - has never needed oxygen assistance of any kind. They've been upping her feedings (gavage, nose tube) and as soon as it hits some magical amount (it is slipping my mind right now) they'll take out her IV. I'm guessing by tomorrow afternoon.

Dr. Barsotti said she has "no issues". Her Magnesium level is back within the "normal" levels. Her biliruben level has gone up, but today's level wasn't high enough to have to treat with lights, so the doctor is hoping that her system kicks in before the next blood draw and she won't need lights at all.

We just need to get this girl to learn how to suck/swallow from a bottle. I believe she can do all of the other "go home" requirements already - it would be so nice to take this pink thing home and start living a "normal life" again - whatever normal is! :)



Oh, and after all of that, I forgot to mention that we have finally, 100% settled on a name - Meredith Grace Lee. She's already being referred to as "Meredi" and "Gracie" at our house - so odds are, no matter what you call her, she'll answer. No, she's not named after anyone specific...we just liked the way that Grace followed Meredith. You know, they should offer epidurals just for the name selecting part of having a baby. This one was the hardest, most frustrating of all of our children. We're so relieved to have come out of this with a name we love - and a name that so perfectly fits her beautiful little face and sweet personality!

Even more news about Meredith...

So odds are the next couple of week's worth of entries are going to be focused around Meredith and her NICU milestones....and of course, pictures!

Brandon and I were able to get a few cute pictures of Meredi during her last care. She's doing great. Because her magnesium level is still high, they aren't going to start her on full feeds probably until tomorrow if the mag level has gone down. So today she got a teaspoon (5cc) of formula. She seemed to tolerate it just fine - (she is getting other proteins and calories through an IV too). We had a fun little visit with her - she was awake most of the time with bright little eyes.

She is still breathing on her own, plain old room air, which is GREAT! It would be huge if we could make it out of here without any lung issues! She is also doing a good job maintaining her body temp when she's out of her isolet. These are a couple of things that have held us back with previous preemies, so we're hoping Meredi is able to keep up the good work and avoid a prolonged stay because of these silly issues popping up at the end!

We have also settled on a middle name - Grace - Meredith Grace Lee. Boy, we're sure glad that part of having a baby is over!!!

Here are the pictures we just took during her care at lunch time...enjoy!

Doesn't she just look tiny in daddy's big hands?



This is one of my favorite things to catch Brandon doing with our new babies. He shades the light from their eyes so they can open them wider and then he talks and talks to them - such a cute daddy thing to do.



Wearing mom's wedding ring, on 3 fingers!



This is one of my favorite things to do with our newborns - they just seem to fit perfectly under my chin. They are always so soft and smell so good! Now I can't wait to kiss the bridge of her nose, which is my other favorite newborn thing to do!



This one is nothing special, just darn cute!

Well, duh!

This is why mom's, who are strung out on prescription narcotics, shouldn't be allowed to send out an email to the entire family and all of our friends to give "details" about Meredith's birth!
I just reread what I sent out and the very first thing out of my mouth, so to speak, was "Meredith arrived on March 15..."

Ok, so she arrived on the 16 - I remember thinking if we could stall at least one more day she could share a birthday, St. Patrick's Day, with my cousin Mardi. How I came up with the 15th while composing that email, I'll never know. Duh!

Now I'm hesitant to give any more reports! :) I actually just got back to my room after spending 45 minutes or so with Meredi. By comparison to the rest of our kids, Meredith is a cue-ball! She has a ton of dark hair, but it's all around her skull, very little on top or in the front. She looks like a little old man. She sure is a cute little old man though! She stayed awake the entire time I held her - she's just impressive! Still on room air - but I have a feeling she at least get the nasal cannulas before it's all said and done. It's a lot of hard, tiring work being the baby!

Brandon and I plan to go up to her next feed together and it should be easier for us to get some new pictures when we're both there. I'll be sure to share if we get anything good!

Miss Meredith Lee has arrived! (34w1d)

Our newest daughter, Meredith, was born yesterday (March 16) around 2:45pm. I am still way too groggy to be trusted to share details, so I'm just going to give you what I know to be true right now and I'll add more to the blog in the next day or so with factual details! First of all, we have NOT decided on a second name yet - of course I have chosen one for her that I love, but Brandon is still a little up in the air about it - so we're not filling out any forms in ink for Meredith, just yet anyway!

"Meredi" is doing so amazing well - we are just so proud of her we could bust! She weighed 5 lb 11 oz (a couple ounces shy of Malorie's & Melanie's weights at 33wks). But unlike Mal and Mel, Meredi scored a 9 on her apgar at one minute - and the next was done in the nursery, so I missed her score. When the neonatologist announced that she was giving Meredi a 9, my ob talked over my sterile screen while he was closing everything up and said, "Wow, neonatologists NEVER give 9's - always 4's & 5's." Then the neonatologist looked at the NICU nurses who were in the OR taking care of Meredith and said, "You don't need me here, I'm going back to help sick kids!" And with that, she went back to NICU leaving Meredith in the care of nurses b/c she wasn't a "sick kid" by the neonatologist's standards! What a rush that was to hear.

After I was finished in recovery, Brandon and I got to go and visit Meredi in NICU. She looks just fabulous. She's breathing all room air, without any assistance at all. Her blood sugars are good. They'll let her lay low until the Magnesium that I was given (to try to stop pre-term labor) works out of her system, abt 24hrs. Because it makes the baby so groggy, they don't push the baby much until they are "clean and sober" so they're not overworking unnecessarily. So she may get to try to nurse as soon as Monday (today) evening!

Long story (finally) short: Shiela is doing great, survived c/section number 5 and, although tired, she has no complaints (we'll see how she yelps when the narcotics wear off - LOL). Meredi is just our hero! I know not to put all of our eggs in to one basket - odds are Meredi will have a set-back or two while in NICU (maintianing body temp, learning to eat, etc) - but she's honestly the best (healthwise) preemie we've had. A NINE on her apgar...from Dr. W no less. She's a very good neonatologist, we met her way back with Malorie and saw her at one time or another with the other preemies, but she never struck us as "chatty or chummy" - both of which she was during the c/section. Little jokes here and there - compliments to the other staff...just a very nice, nice outgoing person. A very obvious change in personalities from what we remembered - and we like it!!! :)

We are so blessed!

Baby update...

Warmer, warmer, warmer...we're getting closer and closer to a safe delivery date for this baby! Actually, it would be "safe" for her to be born any time now - it's just the longer we go without her delivering, the less time we'll be looking at in NICU.

Yesterday's appointment went really well. After a week of spending 2 days in the hospital, we actually made it to this week and my doctor made it home from vacation...and no baby!!

Everything still looks good. We had an ultra sound and the baby's estimated weight was 5lb 14oz (which is exactly what Malorie and Melanie weighed when they were born at this gestation). And her body size is estimated at 37wks (we are just over 33wks). So M is growing very well and we're thrilled!

The doctor told us that once we hit the 34wk mark (Saturday) I can venture out of bed a little bit. I still need to be "down" more than I'm "up" - but it's nice to not feel so darned fragile!!

We didn't get any great ultra sound pictures. M is big and her face is pressed up against my belly and turned just enough that a good picture was out of the question. It didn't help that I forgot to scan the picture before I got upstairs to bed and the laptop, so what you're getting is a picture of the picture (which is bad) and it was taken with my cell phone, LOL, which makes it even worse! Sorry! It's probably only a couple of more weeks until we get to see the real baby, so I'm not to worried about cruddy, black and white ultra sound images! :)

Welcome Home Grandma Lee

After what felt like the "longest year EVER" to our kids, Grandma Lee finally returned home last night after serving a 12 month mission for our Church in Bayonne NJ. I'm sure she's a little shell-shocked waking up this morning, but we are so happy to have her back home with us!

Her flight didn't get in until 10:00 pm last night...then 10:09, then 10:16 - I don't know when it finally came in, I just know that when she did finally walk down the ramp, 25 grandchildren, 4 children and their wives, a sister, a niece and a nephew with his wife and daughter were EXTATIC! I must admit, we were quite a scene all posed in the waiting area with a Welcome Home Grandma Lee sign! We were shocked at just how many flights arrive at that late hour in our airport!



Where's Waldo?



It was fun to open my bedroom curtains this morning and know that grandma is actually IN her home across the field - granted, I can't SEE her home through the acres and acres of trees...but it's there, and so is she and we're thrilled!

Weekly baby update

This week was "interesting".

Jared shared the flu with me on Saturday - and by Sunday I had to go to the hospital for IV fluids due to dehydration. I must say, that was the worst flu I've had in a LONG time.

After a LONG day at the hospital Sunday, and all the while secretly worrying with Brandon that Baby M was going to make her arrival, we were given the all clear (no pun intended) and sent home!

I'm still feeling a tad under it, but much better than I did before!

Tuesday was kind of a funky day too - I went in for my routine office visit and was told that I needed to head back over (apparently I wasn't as "well" as I thought). So I spent Tuesday being cared for as well. We did decide to go ahead and begin the betamethasone (steroids) for the baby's lungs..."just in case"....this will help them mature faster and help in the event that she comes earlier than planned.

Brandon and the kids picked me up on the way to see Grandma Lee at the airport - what a wild day! I'm glad it's over and we can just kick back today and rest...well, that is after I go back to the doc's office for the 2nd steroid injection. But after THAT we'll be resting...and resting a LOT between now and baby. Nothing like being cooped up in the hospital room that is closest to (a) where families wait for c/section patient's doctors to come and update them...heard the all! and (b) closest to NICU where you hear the doctors chatting in the hall with oneanother and with parents. No thanks - I think we've had our share of that and I'm more than willing to waive my turn this time around! We were never hoping to have another preemie...however, after the last couple of days - we're now hoping even LESS to have another one! As always, thanks for the continued love and support!