Just a quick note before a feeding -
Yesterday, I took Harper into the ER - don't freak out, just wait - She started getting really stuffy over the weekend and since I had a cold last week, I was worried she caught it (yeah, don't I feel guilty). Sunday was pretty rough, she really was not feeling well and was throwing up way after her feedings and they were really mucousy. But Sunday night she seemed to be just fine, cooing and smiling up a storm, so we thought we had weathered the worst of it. Monday, my last day off before returning to work, she seemed better than Sunday, but was still stuffy and was still have problems every once and awhile keeping some food down. We called the dr.'s office and since my doctor wasn't in, and because she's a preemie, they told me to take her to the ER. So, off we went. Good news is she weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 oz.!! Almost 8 lbs!! The rest of her vitals looked good. They took abdomen and chest x-rays and the abdomen came back just fine. That was a relief because I was afraid her umbilical hernia was the cause of the throwing up, so I was happy that was clear. The chest x-ray came back a little bothersome. It confirmed that she had an upper respiratory infection (aka - a cold) and that she "may possibly have early pneumonia" in the dr.'s words. He said it may very well not turn into anything and that many babies who have common colds would have lung xrays that look like that, but because she's a preemie they want to be extra cautious. They put her on antibiotics and sent us on our way home. Today, she seems to be just fine. She's had several good feedings, although she's had a couple of little mucous bubbles come back up. But her spirit is feisty as ever and she had many conversations with us today. She's very talkative (wonder where she gets that?) Still stuffy, but I am determined to suck every last drop of snot out of that little girls nose! :)
All in all - first trip to ER wasn't bad, since it wasn't really a true "emergency". I was able to stay rather calm and got numerous compliments from the awesome ER nurse on how calm I was being. I told her, unfortunately, this the a piece of cake compared to some of the stuff we've had to deal with.
On another note - returned to work today. Loved going back to work - Hated not being with her. I ran home on my lunch break to say hi (I love being only 2 minutes from work!!) She was bright-eyed and talking up a storm. LOVED IT!! We were supposed to start daycare today, but obviously, we are not comfortable with that, so Matt's mom came over and watched her when Matt went to work. I love that Matt gets to stay home with her until 2:30, it's so nice.
Better run, missy needs to eat!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
3.17.11
Everything is going well with the little one! She had her 4-month appointment this week (along with the dreaded 4-month shots, ugh!) She's 7 lbs. 11 oz. and 19 1/2 inches. YAY!!
Still battling a little thrush, but the doctor put her on a stronger medicine for it, so hopefully it will clear up.
I go back to work on Tuesday, yikes! Matt will watch her most of the day, which is a huge relief, but he does have to go to work before I get home, so we have to do daycare for about 2-3 hours. We found a really great lady who has fallen in love with Harper (along with her 4 year old son, oh no, Matt you better have a talk with your little girl about her flirting with him tonight while I was over there. :) )
She will be great with her, so with that all lined up, we feel pretty good about everything. I'm concerned Matt and I will never see each other, but it's only for 2 months and then I will have the summer off.
Well, that's about it from us! Till next time...
Still battling a little thrush, but the doctor put her on a stronger medicine for it, so hopefully it will clear up.
I go back to work on Tuesday, yikes! Matt will watch her most of the day, which is a huge relief, but he does have to go to work before I get home, so we have to do daycare for about 2-3 hours. We found a really great lady who has fallen in love with Harper (along with her 4 year old son, oh no, Matt you better have a talk with your little girl about her flirting with him tonight while I was over there. :) )
She will be great with her, so with that all lined up, we feel pretty good about everything. I'm concerned Matt and I will never see each other, but it's only for 2 months and then I will have the summer off.
Well, that's about it from us! Till next time...
Monday, March 7, 2011
3.7.11
First of all, this little girl is so stinkin' cute!!
Secondly, I'm going to blame her cuteness for the lack of posts for the past month. She's just too fun (and, let's be honest, sometimes exhausting).
I'm going to try and do better though, at least once a week is my goal.
She's doing great! Weighing in a 7 lbs even at her appointment last week. I can't believe next week she will be 4 months old. That's insanely crazy!
She's still a little anemic, but her levels are higher than they were when she left the hospital, so that's a good thing. They are just going to keep an eye on it.
She's starting to want to sleep more at night, but our doctor doesn't want her going much over 4 hours yet, because she's still small. So, sometimes it's tough to wake her up and take a full feeding, but she at least gets half of one usually.
Still taking reflux medication, two of them now. It is helping, not curing, but helping. She's had a little thrush too, so we are on medicine to deal with that - she does not like that.
Yesterday, we had a pretty big milestone! My cousin, Lindsey was taking to her while I was in the other room and I heard her say "You're just full of smiles", well, I thought it was probably just gas, but NO! She was really smiling back at her! It's so fun to see her smile at you! Sometimes, I'm having so much fun with her smiling, that I forget I'm supposed to be getting her changed so she can eat! She will even make a cooing noise when she smiles, almost like a little laugh. It's so CUTE!!
I can't believe I have to go back to work in 2 weeks. I want them to go by so slowly, although, I fear they will not! At least I know she will be home with Matt during the day. That brings a lot of comfort.
Okay, I think I'm going to go sneak in a quick nap before she wakes up.
Secondly, I'm going to blame her cuteness for the lack of posts for the past month. She's just too fun (and, let's be honest, sometimes exhausting).
I'm going to try and do better though, at least once a week is my goal.
She's doing great! Weighing in a 7 lbs even at her appointment last week. I can't believe next week she will be 4 months old. That's insanely crazy!
She's still a little anemic, but her levels are higher than they were when she left the hospital, so that's a good thing. They are just going to keep an eye on it.
She's starting to want to sleep more at night, but our doctor doesn't want her going much over 4 hours yet, because she's still small. So, sometimes it's tough to wake her up and take a full feeding, but she at least gets half of one usually.
Still taking reflux medication, two of them now. It is helping, not curing, but helping. She's had a little thrush too, so we are on medicine to deal with that - she does not like that.
Yesterday, we had a pretty big milestone! My cousin, Lindsey was taking to her while I was in the other room and I heard her say "You're just full of smiles", well, I thought it was probably just gas, but NO! She was really smiling back at her! It's so fun to see her smile at you! Sometimes, I'm having so much fun with her smiling, that I forget I'm supposed to be getting her changed so she can eat! She will even make a cooing noise when she smiles, almost like a little laugh. It's so CUTE!!
I can't believe I have to go back to work in 2 weeks. I want them to go by so slowly, although, I fear they will not! At least I know she will be home with Matt during the day. That brings a lot of comfort.
Okay, I think I'm going to go sneak in a quick nap before she wakes up.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
2.9.11
Well, 3 out of the 4 doctor's appoinments done for the week. All of them have been really good! The ENT appoinment (first of all, Matt informed me while we were sitting in the dr office, that he thought we were seeing an EMT, which he was really confused about until he realized that we were seeing an eNt....oh, dear....) was really quick and rather painless for her. He did say that her frenulum was really tight so Matt held her (mommy couldn't handle it) and he opened her mouth and snip, it was done. She actually fussed more when he was trying to pry her mouth open. There was a little blood, but other than that, it was quickly over with.
The general surgeon appointment was actually a little frustrating, although, it did offer some peace of mind. He simply came in, pushed on her hernia, and said he won't fix it until she is 2-3 years old, if it hasn't gone down on its own. Well, thanks for that....$60 copay.... Again, it's good to have that piece of mind.
The eye appointment today was wondeful! Took forever to get the appointment started, but once she saw him, he said that her retinas are fully developed and he doesn't need to see her again. It was really difficult to have to sit in the next room and listen to her scream (and boy did she scream), but thankfully, it didn't last very long. Now, she will just need to check up with a pediatric eye doctor in about 6 months. Preemies do sometimes need glasses (but, hey Matt wears glasses, so that was a possibility anyway.) or in very rare cases, need surgery to correct cross-eyedness (is that a word?)
One appointment left, but it should be pretty routine, just a weight check on Friday with her pediatrician.
Gotta run, some little girl thinks she needs to eat.... :)
The general surgeon appointment was actually a little frustrating, although, it did offer some peace of mind. He simply came in, pushed on her hernia, and said he won't fix it until she is 2-3 years old, if it hasn't gone down on its own. Well, thanks for that....$60 copay.... Again, it's good to have that piece of mind.
The eye appointment today was wondeful! Took forever to get the appointment started, but once she saw him, he said that her retinas are fully developed and he doesn't need to see her again. It was really difficult to have to sit in the next room and listen to her scream (and boy did she scream), but thankfully, it didn't last very long. Now, she will just need to check up with a pediatric eye doctor in about 6 months. Preemies do sometimes need glasses (but, hey Matt wears glasses, so that was a possibility anyway.) or in very rare cases, need surgery to correct cross-eyedness (is that a word?)
One appointment left, but it should be pretty routine, just a weight check on Friday with her pediatrician.
Gotta run, some little girl thinks she needs to eat.... :)
Friday, February 4, 2011
2.4.11
Doctor appointment today!
It was a pretty good appointment. She gained 3 oz. (she's 5 lbs. 14 oz.), which I was totally excited about. I was worried that she would lose some, just because of coming home, changing her schedule up, and the fact that she is breastfeeding more and she doesn't eat quite as much breastfeeding yet as she does with the bottle. So a gain is a good thing! We will have another appointment next Friday to just check and make sure she's still gaining.
The things of concern were a couple of "minor" things in the doctor's terms. Her frenulum (the small fold of tissue under your tongue, you know the part that piece that keeps your tongue from dangling outside your mouth) is really close to the front of her tongue. When she sticks her tongue out or when she cries she almost looks like she has a forked tongue. I actually didn't really notice it, but Matt said one of the nurses in the hospital had brought it up (of course, he told me this today, not when she was still in the hospital). She had said that she would most likely grow into it, or they may just clip it eventually. Something like this could affect her speech, as well as, affect how she feeds, because she can't suck correctly. Well, today, the doctor said that she was actually surprised that they didn't clip it, so she set us up with a ENT doctor to have them look at it and probably have it clipped (ouch!) I hate that thought, but it will help her out.
The other concern is her umbilical hernia. She's always had a small one, but since they inclined her bed at the hospital, which causes her to strain more with the reflux, her hernia has gotten bigger. Most of the time a hernia like this is not a concern, because it will either go down on it's own, or by 6 months to a year, they would surgically fix it (minor surgery). The concern with Harper's is that it has gotten pretty big in a short period of time. It's pretty soft, but it's pretty big. She set us up with a general surgeon to look at it and see if they need to do anything. It's a minor surgery, but it's still surgery, so this has mommy worried. She said that it's fine as long as it doesn't turn black, so now I freak out every time I unzip her outfit because I'm worried it's going to be black!
So, next week is going to be full of doctor's appointments! ENT and general surgeon on Monday. Eye doctor follow up on Wednesday and regular doctor appointment on Friday. Poor girl, although, she's so used to doctors by now.
These two things are concerns, but overall she was happy with Harper's progress and was happy with how she looks. Now, if we can just get through next week!
It was a pretty good appointment. She gained 3 oz. (she's 5 lbs. 14 oz.), which I was totally excited about. I was worried that she would lose some, just because of coming home, changing her schedule up, and the fact that she is breastfeeding more and she doesn't eat quite as much breastfeeding yet as she does with the bottle. So a gain is a good thing! We will have another appointment next Friday to just check and make sure she's still gaining.
The things of concern were a couple of "minor" things in the doctor's terms. Her frenulum (the small fold of tissue under your tongue, you know the part that piece that keeps your tongue from dangling outside your mouth) is really close to the front of her tongue. When she sticks her tongue out or when she cries she almost looks like she has a forked tongue. I actually didn't really notice it, but Matt said one of the nurses in the hospital had brought it up (of course, he told me this today, not when she was still in the hospital). She had said that she would most likely grow into it, or they may just clip it eventually. Something like this could affect her speech, as well as, affect how she feeds, because she can't suck correctly. Well, today, the doctor said that she was actually surprised that they didn't clip it, so she set us up with a ENT doctor to have them look at it and probably have it clipped (ouch!) I hate that thought, but it will help her out.
The other concern is her umbilical hernia. She's always had a small one, but since they inclined her bed at the hospital, which causes her to strain more with the reflux, her hernia has gotten bigger. Most of the time a hernia like this is not a concern, because it will either go down on it's own, or by 6 months to a year, they would surgically fix it (minor surgery). The concern with Harper's is that it has gotten pretty big in a short period of time. It's pretty soft, but it's pretty big. She set us up with a general surgeon to look at it and see if they need to do anything. It's a minor surgery, but it's still surgery, so this has mommy worried. She said that it's fine as long as it doesn't turn black, so now I freak out every time I unzip her outfit because I'm worried it's going to be black!
So, next week is going to be full of doctor's appointments! ENT and general surgeon on Monday. Eye doctor follow up on Wednesday and regular doctor appointment on Friday. Poor girl, although, she's so used to doctors by now.
These two things are concerns, but overall she was happy with Harper's progress and was happy with how she looks. Now, if we can just get through next week!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
2.3.11
I know, I know. Such a disappointment am I. I'm so sorry for the lack of updates, I've had a little distraction :)
Well, in case you didn't know, Harper is HOME!! She came home Sunday!
It has been great to have her home with us. It's quite a shift from going to the hospital for a few hours every day to having her here 24/7, but it's the absolute best! It was delightful to not have to go anywhere to see her during our little blizzard we had Tuesday and Wednesday. We have been able to stay in and snuggle.
Other than the fact that she has her nights and days mixed up (much to mommy and daddy's dismay), she is doing great. Her awake hours last night were from 1:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. UGH! We need to get that figured out, little one! Thankfully, my mom is here this week helping out, so I have been able to sneak in a few naps, but once Sunday rolls around and Nana leaves, someone is going to have to learn that mommy wants to sleep at night! :) Oh, well, she's in charge, right? She loves to be held....all....the....time! Oh, dear, what a spoiled child we have!
We have our first outing tomorrow to the doctor's office. We shall see how that goes, we already have plans to be leaving an hour before the appointment, just to make sure we try and get out of the house on time. The appointment was supposed to be on Tuesday, but we rescheduled due to the fact that visibility outside was no longer than the end of our driveway.
That's all for now, pretty smooth sailing so far.
Well, in case you didn't know, Harper is HOME!! She came home Sunday!
It has been great to have her home with us. It's quite a shift from going to the hospital for a few hours every day to having her here 24/7, but it's the absolute best! It was delightful to not have to go anywhere to see her during our little blizzard we had Tuesday and Wednesday. We have been able to stay in and snuggle.
Other than the fact that she has her nights and days mixed up (much to mommy and daddy's dismay), she is doing great. Her awake hours last night were from 1:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. UGH! We need to get that figured out, little one! Thankfully, my mom is here this week helping out, so I have been able to sneak in a few naps, but once Sunday rolls around and Nana leaves, someone is going to have to learn that mommy wants to sleep at night! :) Oh, well, she's in charge, right? She loves to be held....all....the....time! Oh, dear, what a spoiled child we have!
We have our first outing tomorrow to the doctor's office. We shall see how that goes, we already have plans to be leaving an hour before the appointment, just to make sure we try and get out of the house on time. The appointment was supposed to be on Tuesday, but we rescheduled due to the fact that visibility outside was no longer than the end of our driveway.
That's all for now, pretty smooth sailing so far.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
1.27.11
Okay, again so sorry for the lack of posts lately.
What has happened since Saturday........
Matt and I did not do our room in on Sunday, because she was still having problems with Brady episodes. 6 in a 24 hour period. She has never had that many in such a short period of time. They didn't feel she was quite ready for a room in just yet. But, they decided to raise her bed back to the inclined position. They felt that her reflux was causing her to choke up, thus causing her heart rate to drop. Well, what do you know, it worked! But....because she had so many episodes, they wanted to rule out anything else that could be causing it, which could be some sort of infection, which led them to do all sorts of bloodwork. Everything looked normal, except for her CRP (number that shows inflammation or distress). It was slightly elevated, which they didn't think much of because the elevation was slight enough that it could have just meant that at the time the blood was taken, she was uncomfortable in some way. They took it again the next day and it increased a point, but the CBC was perfectly normal, so they really didn't think it was an infection. They were leaning towards an intolerance of the new formula they put her on (they just add a little to my milk to fortify it with extra vitamins). So, maybe her tummy just wasn't feeling quite right. The 3rd day, her CRP only went up .1, so pretty much the same as the day before. Sunday and Monday she seemed kinda lazy with her feedings, and wasn't quite finishing them, which was another indication that her body was in some sort of distress. They thought about maybe putting her back on oxygen to give her a little boost, but nothing ever came of that. At the end of all this, they decided that she may have had a little stomach bug, but nothing big enough to affect her CBC. Personally, I just think she was worn out, we really threw a lot of new stuff at her on Friday and then she had the 6 Bradys, which I imagine are pretty traumatic on her little body. But, since I'm missin that doctor's degree, what do I know? :) They will do another CRP on Friday in hopes that it has corrected itself, and whatever was wrong is no longer a problem.
On Tuesday, they decided to put her on Prilosec for her acid reflux (thank goodness), which seems to help her out a bit. You can tell she's still bothered with it some, but it is better. The doctor said she will grow out of this problem. Let's hope she grows out of it soon, it kills mama to see her tense up so bad when that acid starts coming back up. Since she's on the Prilosec, they have started trying to wean her off the inclined bed. So, they let her eat, then they wait a bit to lower the bed, letting her have a little time to digest before the lower it. She does not like it one bit when they lower it, but she's slowly getting better with it.
Today, they increased her feeds to 58 from 46, which shocked me a bit at first, but what they are going to do is let her eat what she wants, if she finishes all 58, great, if not, that's okay. Then they will wait for her to wake up to feed her within a 3-4 hour period, so if after 3 1/2 hours, she wakes up wanting to eat, feed her. This will be more of the schedule they want her on when she comes home, so they are getting her prepared.
Speaking of going home.......she has passed all the "tests" they give her in order for her to be able to come home. They only thing left is for us to do a room in, an MRI (which they do the day she goes home) and she has to get some pictures taken (for security purposes). They are looking at us doing our room in on Saturday and hopefully, home on Sunday or Monday. Nobody will say that officially just yet though. I think they feel bad that we got all excited last weekend and then were disappointed. It's alright though, we know she wasn't quite ready, and when she is, she will be home with us!! But it does seem like it's getting closer!
What has happened since Saturday........
Matt and I did not do our room in on Sunday, because she was still having problems with Brady episodes. 6 in a 24 hour period. She has never had that many in such a short period of time. They didn't feel she was quite ready for a room in just yet. But, they decided to raise her bed back to the inclined position. They felt that her reflux was causing her to choke up, thus causing her heart rate to drop. Well, what do you know, it worked! But....because she had so many episodes, they wanted to rule out anything else that could be causing it, which could be some sort of infection, which led them to do all sorts of bloodwork. Everything looked normal, except for her CRP (number that shows inflammation or distress). It was slightly elevated, which they didn't think much of because the elevation was slight enough that it could have just meant that at the time the blood was taken, she was uncomfortable in some way. They took it again the next day and it increased a point, but the CBC was perfectly normal, so they really didn't think it was an infection. They were leaning towards an intolerance of the new formula they put her on (they just add a little to my milk to fortify it with extra vitamins). So, maybe her tummy just wasn't feeling quite right. The 3rd day, her CRP only went up .1, so pretty much the same as the day before. Sunday and Monday she seemed kinda lazy with her feedings, and wasn't quite finishing them, which was another indication that her body was in some sort of distress. They thought about maybe putting her back on oxygen to give her a little boost, but nothing ever came of that. At the end of all this, they decided that she may have had a little stomach bug, but nothing big enough to affect her CBC. Personally, I just think she was worn out, we really threw a lot of new stuff at her on Friday and then she had the 6 Bradys, which I imagine are pretty traumatic on her little body. But, since I'm missin that doctor's degree, what do I know? :) They will do another CRP on Friday in hopes that it has corrected itself, and whatever was wrong is no longer a problem.
On Tuesday, they decided to put her on Prilosec for her acid reflux (thank goodness), which seems to help her out a bit. You can tell she's still bothered with it some, but it is better. The doctor said she will grow out of this problem. Let's hope she grows out of it soon, it kills mama to see her tense up so bad when that acid starts coming back up. Since she's on the Prilosec, they have started trying to wean her off the inclined bed. So, they let her eat, then they wait a bit to lower the bed, letting her have a little time to digest before the lower it. She does not like it one bit when they lower it, but she's slowly getting better with it.
Today, they increased her feeds to 58 from 46, which shocked me a bit at first, but what they are going to do is let her eat what she wants, if she finishes all 58, great, if not, that's okay. Then they will wait for her to wake up to feed her within a 3-4 hour period, so if after 3 1/2 hours, she wakes up wanting to eat, feed her. This will be more of the schedule they want her on when she comes home, so they are getting her prepared.
Speaking of going home.......she has passed all the "tests" they give her in order for her to be able to come home. They only thing left is for us to do a room in, an MRI (which they do the day she goes home) and she has to get some pictures taken (for security purposes). They are looking at us doing our room in on Saturday and hopefully, home on Sunday or Monday. Nobody will say that officially just yet though. I think they feel bad that we got all excited last weekend and then were disappointed. It's alright though, we know she wasn't quite ready, and when she is, she will be home with us!! But it does seem like it's getting closer!
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