Day 25: Big Bows in Derby Town

Yes I'm from Kentucky, no, I've never been to the Kentucky Derby, and never knew how much stuff went on in Louisville prior to the Derby....2 weeks of non-stop activites leading up to the Derby, many of which require blocking off downtown streets near the hosptial...grrrr! Today was the parade, which its course is 2 blocks from the hospital! Thankfully Churchill Downs is not anywhere near the hospital! If I had nothing else to do it would be fun to camp out at the airport and see the "stars" who have come into town for Derby.

So, on to today's activities.

Bean passed her hearing test, which it was pretty obvious to me that she could hear, but the test also determined that!

We also got back her echocardiogram results. Nothing major and what they expected. One little valve isn't quite closing as much as it should, but it should fix itself as she gets older, sounds similar to my hear murmur and then something about some veins in her back to her lungs being small, but again, nothing that shouldn't fix itself as she grows. They want to recheck her in 6 months and if they thought it was very serious they would be checking her every month, so nothing to worry about, just more parts of being a preemie.

She continues to eat well. We did have the lactation consultant come by and work with me on breast feeding and to weigh her to see how much she is getting.

Good thing: I figured out the best ways to hold her while feeding that is most comfortable for her and me.

Bad thing: She ate off and on for roughly 30 minutes and according to the scale she only ingested about 12cc....not great considering she is supposed to be taking 50-70cc per feeding now.

So, she basically has to get stronger to breast feed better, so we can attempt to breast feed for about 15 minutes and then just give her what she wants via bottle for now. So, she still gets the breast milk, but it will be awhile before she will be able to truly breast feed.

But, at least we know and I'm not going to be starving my child!

Some lady brought by baby headband/bows for all the little girls, which I find very funny since we've had the conversation with Ben's dad as to how ridiculous he thinks these big bows are on babies, so of course, I had to stick it on her and take a picture! I prefer smaller bows, but I couldn't resist. She's so darn cute regardless of what she's wearing or has on her head, but here's a few, you can judge for yourself! I'm thinking it will work well for her big, gaudy, derby hat for Saturday, LOL!




Mallory gained more today, up to 4 lb 13 oz!!

They are also letting her eat what she wants at each feeding, kinda like she would at home. If she can eat as much as she wants eat time and still gain weight, the feeding tube will come out and we are much closer to coming home!! We are basically going through the checklist of things that must be done before she can go home now, so we are getting closer!

Here's another picture of Bean minus the bow, LOL!

Day 24: Feedings and Blogging via iPhone

Ben and Tucker headed out around 5:30 am this morning to head back to Owensboro and work for Ben. Again, I will be SOOOOO happy when we can all be together...it's been almost 11 weeks since we've all been together. Good grief!

I was excited to see how Mallory's feedings were throughout the night so I got to the hospital around 10:30 today.

She had taken them all overnight!! Yeah!! But, she did have one desaturation (which means a quick drop of the level of oxygen in her blood) which is probably due to a little reflux because with less feedings she is taking more volume per feeding. Hopefully that will pass but it did happen again this morning. It's really quick, almost like she's holding her breathe for a quick few seconds but long enough for the monitors to catch it. Hopefully it will all even itself out soon.

So we got to breastfeed two times in a row today! Amazing what makes you happy now! For someone who was totally freaked out about breast feeding and pumping prior to having her, it really isn't bad and has become such a part of life now, who knew!

My time when I'm not holding her or feeding her or pumping consists of me reading. I figure I may not get the time to do much reading once I get her home, so I better try to squeeze in the 12 books I want to read this year sooner than later! I've already read Nicholas Sparks Last Song, just finished my Preemie book and Iris Johansen's Blood Game and now I'm reading Johnathan Kellerman's Dr. Death...yes I have a thing for Forensic Thrillers, and then there's Nicholas Sparks, not sure where he fits in, but love all his books.

They also did a heart echocardiograhm on Mallo Bean today, which is essentially a ultrasound of her heart which I've had done to me numerous times. They thought they may have heard a heart murmur, which I have one, or did, so they did that to check her out. She did great. She just laid there sucking on her pacifier and didn't seem to mind at all. She seems to be quite the laid back little lady, I hope that means she's taking after me in that aspect because we all know how fidgety and anxious Ben is, so who knows, we will see as she gets older how it all pans out!

Stef sent me a text today...there's an app for my iphone so I can update my blog, upload pictures and videos to it all via my iphone, how cool is that! Now I can update just about anywhere any time! Woo Hoo, a bloggers dream! I love my iPhone!

Bean didn't gain any today, but they said, good grief, she gained 30 grams yesterday, give her a break, LOL! So, we are still at 4 lb 12.5 oz, which is still great.

So, back at the camper now doing more of Mallory's laundry, which is much more fun to do and fold than mine or Ben's, but I'm sure I will quickly get over that before too long! For now, it's fun!

No new picture today. Hopefully she will get her tube out in the next few days and I can take a ton more with her tube out, right now they all look alike at this point!

Test post

Just testing the new blog app that Stef told me about....now I can blog from my iPhone! Beware, LOL!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 23: 4 Hour Feedings, Cousin Matt & Dad

The only crummy thing about having Tucker stay with me is having to walk him when it's pouring down rain....that was my morning! Thankfully Ben had left his camo rain coat because I didn't have an umbrella with me, so we were able to wander around for 5 or 10 minutes while Tucker did all his tricks without me getting soaking wet. He required a good toweling off, but no big deal.

When I arrived at the hospital this morning around 11 am, the speech therapist was back to feed Mallory again. They like to check in on them and their progress. I mentioned wanting to move to every 4 hour feedings to see how that would go, so the Nurse Practitioner came over and said it would be fine and we would feed her 55 cc every feeding at 4 hours. So she sucked down here feeding for 11:30 am and then off to sleep and we would see what 4 hours would bring us!

She was wiggling around a little before 3:30, so I was happy to see that because normally she's sound asleep. I fed her a bottle of breast milk this time so we could see how much she would take. She did really good until right at the end and she got a little choked and was then done with the bottle, so she took everything but about 15 cc, so we just went on and put that down her feeding tube. So now, on to wait until the 7:30 pm feeding.

Since Ben was going to be coming by the hospital later after his meeting, I headed back to the camper to let Tucker out and grab some dinner. I got back in time to meet up with Matt who came over to see Mallory!

I thought it was cute, he will probably hate me for telling, but he was like I thought I hated all kids until I saw her! She's so cute, you just can't resist! So Matt got a good visit with her before her 7:30 pm feeding. Here's a picture of Mallory holding Matt's finger : )



Also, congratulations to Matt, he's about to wrap up his Thesis and will soon have his Masters Degree from UK in Architecture...which will be very handy when we go to build a house!

The 7:30 pm feeding came and she was awake again! So we breast fed and then I gave her about 15 cc more in a bottle and she took all of that too....so we will see tomorrow how the night feedings went, but so far it's looking like the 4 hour feedings may be what she needs!

She just keeps gaining weight like a little champ! She gained 30 grams yesterday so she's up to 4 lb 12.5 oz today! 5 pounds here we come!

Ben had a good meeting with the Agco salesman and had dinner and then back to the hospital around 9:30pm. I was still holding bean when he arrived, so she had another nice visit with her daddy! We put her in her little bed, it's always so hard for us to leave her at night! So it was a long day, but well worth it!

Here's another picture from today....can't wait for that feeding tube to be gone!

Day 22: Juggling Tucker and Mallory Today!

Ben headed off to work early this am from the camper and left Tucker with me because he's heading back over her for work tomorrow afternoon and would have to board Tuck if he didn't stay with me, so I'm juggling time between Mallory and Tucker today!

I slept in longer than planned today, I guess it's the weather but just couldn't get up and going today. I had intended on going in a little later than normal so I wouldn't have to leave Tuck alone for so long, but it was still later than planned. I didn't leave the camper until 11:30 and normally I'm at the hospital by 10:30.

Gloria was bottle feeding her at her 11:30 feeding and if I'd known that I would have tried to come in earlier because that's normally her tube feeding but somehow they got off last night, so this was an oral feed. So I finished up giving her the bottle and then we thought we'd try breast feeding at 2:30 pm and see if she would do 2 in a row.

Unfortunately she wanted nothing to do with eating at 2:30. Took about 10 slurps again and then just went to sleep. We may try to switch her to every 4 hour feedings and see if longer in between feedings helps her be awake and wanting to eat every time.

I bottle fed her again at 5:30 pm because she needed her vitamins, so we just did it via bottle. They taught me how to bottle feed her and get her started so she doesn't choke as easily. It worked well and she sucked it all down really quickly!

Hopefully we can get her on a 4 hour schedule tomorrow and see if that helps....that's all we are waiting on right now because she hasn't had a reportable episode since the 20th when she got choked so bad, so it's just eating at every time she is supposed to.

She does gain weight like a little champ though, up to 4 lb 11 oz now! Before long she will be up to 5 pounds!

I left the hospital around 6:30 so I could get back and have plenty of time to walk Tucker good before it got dark, so we made a couple laps around the campground, good for him and me. I love that Tucker prefers to poop in the really tall grass in areas no one ever goes, so I don't have to worry about collecting his poop! It's just natural fertilizer for the already tall grass/woods!

Just got one picture today....they decided to take a little more precautions in her pulling her tube out...seems to work, but not real photo flattering, LOL! She's a cutie pie regardless!

Day 21: Grandparents visit again!

Today Mom and Dad came up to visit Mallory. Dad hasn't gotten to see her since the first days she was born, so she's much more "fun" and responsive now!

This morning before we met mom and dad I took Tucker for a walk while the weather was pretty. We found that the KOA has a Dog Park! Lots of fun stuff just for dogs in a fence where they don't have to be on the leash....Tucker seemed to enjoy it...here's some pictures of him in the park...




We met mom and dad at Cracker Barrel for lunch before heading off to the hospital. We got there in plenty of time for mom and dad to hold her before her 2:30 feeding. Here's some good pictures of mom and dad holding little bean!




Everyone got some good Mallory time today!

We breast fed at 2:30 today and she did great, better than she's ever done before, I didn't feel like I had to worry if she got enought this time, she ate great and then went sound to sleep when she got done!

Mom and Dad headed out and Ben and I went to run some errands while she slept. When we got back she pulled out her feeding tube. I stayed in there with her while they put it back in. I didn't watch but she didn't get very upset, so either Gloria the nurse is really great at getting them back in or it's just not as horrible as it seems it might be. I think getting the tape off her little face was worse than actually getting the feeding tube in her.

So, she took her 5:30 feeding through her tube. We are all anxious to try her orally at more and more feedings, but we just can't rush it either. Like they say, she will get up one day and it just clicks, she will wake up at her feedings and take it all. Hopefully we aren't too far away from that!

She's up to 2.095 KG today which is just 3 grams shy of 4 lbs 10 oz, so she just keeps gaining weight on a very steady basis!!

After her feeding and pumping, Ben and I headed out and had dinner at Joes Crab Shack and now back at the camper with Tucker again. He's going to wait and leave early am in the morning to go to work.

Here's a few more pictures from today:

Day 20: Saturday and Daddy Visits

We weren't blown away by the storms today but thankfully none of us had to be in the camper when they came through either, we are here now and all is fine.

Feeling sad for my sister today, her dog Ty was hit by a car this morning....we all know how much we love our dogs....so sorry for her loss.

As for Mallo Bean, we had another good day. We tried to breast feed at 11, which was scheduled time for her tube feeding but we thought we'd try....so took about 10 sucks and then just went to sleep! She just wasn't interested, LOL! So, we gave her that feeding via the tube and then got to breast feed at the 2 pm feeding and she seemed to do pretty good then.

I'm worried about how much she's actually getting when she breast feeds so on Monday I'm going to try to get Jena the Lactation Consultant to come over and work with me. The have a little scale where they weigh the baby before the feeding and then again afterwards so they know how much they get. She feeds until she stops but I'm just worried she doesn't eat enough that way....unfortunatley you can't just program so much to come out of each breast, LOL!

Ben came in around 7pm tonight after a wet morning of Turkey Hunting at Mom and Dad's and then waiting out some of the storms to pass before he headed up. I guess he made it here after wave 2 but before the worse wave 3 of storms!

The nursery was hopping this afternoon....I guess there's a lot of visitiors on Saturday evenings....I have to say I enjoy the times when it's fewer people or just me. The nurses almost think I'm one of them now...I answer questions for other new moms now, it's rather funny. Guess I just make myself at home wherever I am.

So, after leaving the nursery around 8 pm tonight we headed to Tumbleweeds for dinner and now us and Tucker are crashed back at the camper.

Here's some cute pictures of Ben and Mallory from this evening!

Day 19: Another Good Day!

I was so ready to get to the hospital today and spend all day with little bean!

It's weird to think that if my pregnancy had gone "normally" my due date would be a month from today....I'm so thankfull that I was able to keep her "in" for those 7 weeks, it made such a huge difference since I wasn't meant to keep her in full term. 33 weeks is much better than 26 weeks!

We are doing oral feedings every other feeding right now and will probably increase that in another day or so. I'm still optomistic that this could be our last weekend in the hosptial! Basically once she starts taking 100% of her feedings orally for 24 hours her feeding tube will come out and then 48 hours after that if she continues to take everything orally, she can go home!

She gained more weight today, 2.05 kg now, over 4 lb 8 oz but not quite 4 lb 9 oz yet.

The speach therapist came to look at her this am at her 8:30 feeding. Seems weird to me that a speach therapist can help determine suck/swallow reflexes and what could potentially be done to help that! But, they determined that she's doing well, just get's tuckered out sometimes, other than that, she's pretty much on target.

Her 11 am feeding was via tube and then we breast fed at her 2 pm feeding. It seemed to go well, gotta work on getting comfortable while doing it, it just feels a little awkward trying to get her in the right position....I'll talk to the lactation consultant in the next couple days. I think it was primarly the chair I was in today, but I could still use any pointers!

Mike, who I work with out of Kansas, stopped by today. He was in town to run the Derby Marathon tomorrow in Louisville. He is running a marathon in every state, so this is the one for Kentucky. He's probably run about 18 of the states now! So it was good to see him and for him to see Mallory, even if she was just sleeping while he was here!

So, I read on my Preemie book, and continued to be impressed with it, lots of good info and tips, and just sit around with her and watch her and hold her as much as I can!

So, 5 pm feeding was via tube again, so I just held her as she slept and then headed out of the hospital around 7:15 pm.

Ben's going to Turkey Hunt tomorrow morning and then head up here with Tucker tomorrow afternoon. Mom, Dad and Susan will either be up Saturday or Sunday, depends on when it rains, so we should have some good company again this weekend and again, my fingers are crossed that this is the last weekend we have to be here in the hospital!!

Keep praying, she's doing great and I'm ready to get her home!!

Day 18: Refreshed and More Oral Feedings

I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, my nice hot bubble bath last night or sleeping in my own bed, both were WONDERFUL! Now to just have all of that and little bean home with us and life will be fairly complete!

I suppose dust and dog hair will just have to wait a little longer, got the nursery stocked and some laundry done, but no cleaning. Oh well. I did take my time this morning and very much enjoyed relaxing and was out of the house by 11:30 am to head back to Louisville.

By the time I ran a few other quick errands in Owensboro, it was about 3:30 pm Eastern when I got back to Louisville.

Judy was her nurse again today and she said she's done great. Ate her 8 and 11 feeding by bottle and did great, they did the feeding tube at 2 to let her rest some, but she really seems to be improving her suck/swallow/breathe reflex!

I just got her up and held her while she slept until time to change her diaper and take her temp in time for her 5 pm feeding. I just love holding her, she's just such a cutie!

So at 5 I breast fed her and it seems like she did good and we didn't supplement with any additional bottle, we think she got all she needed that way!

So after I spent a little more time with her I went and picked up a book on Preemies that I've heard a lot of good things about that I had one of the Border's Book Stores in Louisville hold for me, and so far I've been very impressed....and grateful, there's a whole section in the front about pProm and how most people don't last more than 10 days before going into labor, so once again, she is our little miracle!

But, as for the book, Preemies: The Essential Guide for Parents of Premature Babies, and again I'm impressed and if you know someone else who is or has a preemie, it would be a good book to get for them. I'm looking forward to continuing to read through it.

Now I'm back in the camper, home away from home, and looking forward to a full day with Mallory tomorrow in the hospital!

I also forgot to mention her weight from yestrday, she was 2.015 kg yesterday and 2.03 kg today which is 4 lb 8 oz!

Here's some cute shots from today's visit!

Day 17: Quick Visit and then Home for me....

Like I posted last night on facebook, I will be so glad when my WHOLE family is home together!! Hopefully just another week or week and a half and I can't wait!

I threw my stuff together this am and headed to the Hospital so I could spend as much time as possible with little bean before I headed off to Owensboro after lunch.

She was doing good, sleeping, so I worked on breastfeeding with her at 11am feeding, she did good, probably got about half of her 40cc feeding that way then we put the rest through her tube. After another pumping session, I talked with the nurses, gave her a quick kiss on the head and headed towards home. Still hard to leave her, but I need some me time too!

The first thing I did when I got home, other than pump, which is what my life revolves around right now, LOL, was take a long hot bath! First time I've had a bath in probably around 10 weeks....and. it. felt. so. good!!!!

Then I was off to Target and Walmart to get some of the basic stuff for the nursery, oh like diapers and wipes! So, at least I now feel a little more well stocked for when she arrives!

I also got the not so great opportunity to finally see myself in a full length mirror for the first time after 7 1/2 weeks of hospital bed rest and 2 weeks post baby, so that was total motivation to get me moving again....as soon as I can.

So, I'll take some strolling walks over the next few weeks and then start Couch 2 5K in about another 4 weeks or so. My ultimate goal is to run the Music City 1/2 Marathon next April and I have no doubt I can do it....I do so miss running! I can't wait to get a jogging stroller and hit the roads and green way with little bean!

I did call in once so far at 5pm to check on her and all is well as expected, but just have to double check!

Tonight I'm going to work on arranging the nursery as I like and if I have time tomorrow I'll vacuum and maybe dust and if I don't, well, it will still be here!

Here's a few quick pictures I snapped today before heading out....she's in her "my mommy loves me" onsie. We picked up an "i love daddy" one this weekend but it's still a little big yet...equal opps for both parents!

Day 16: Infant CPR Class? Check!

I had already planned on taking the infant cpr class today prior to the choking episode yesterday, but that made it just that much more important to me to take the class.

It started at 11 am, it wasn't a certification class, but just so you know what to do. Overall I thought it was a good class, it went over both cpr and choking, so I feel a little better about it all. Some woman had her very annoying 2 year old with her during the class, but I made it through without saying anything....only a few dismayed looks her way, which obviously didn't help or work. But, as for what I learned, it was well worth it. Even had the practice babies/infants which looked HUGE compared to Mallory!

Mallo Bean is doing well today. We really let her rest most of today, again, me and the day nurse Barb, both thought they might have been pushing her too hard, so we just let her rest most of today. We did try breast feeding for about 20 minutes today at 2pm feeding and she did pretty good. She's got the concept, just needs to be a bit stronger.

She's gained more weight, almost 4 lb 7 oz now! Hopefully by tomorrow she will actually be over the 2 kilogram weight!

Some of you may or may not know our family friends the Powell's from Muhlenburg Co, but, Chanda, who is my age, her 4 year old was in Kosairs to have a hole in her heart repaired last week and although it is a typically routine surgery, it didn't work in Abby's case and she ended up having a blood clot that caused her to have a stroke. I had sent Chanda a message to let her know we were also in Kosairs and that we would be praying for them. Today her mom Cheryl came over to visit me. Abby is still in ICU but doing well. She will need a little therapy, but she's talking and moving her right arm and leg, so hopefully with just some therapy she will be good to go. I'll probably go visit them once she's in a regular room tomorrow or Friday.

I'm probably going to go home tomorrow afternoon and come back Thursday afternoon. It will be two weeks tomorrow since I've been home and I'm ready to sleep in my own bed again, and as much as I hate being away from Mallory, I know she's doing well, is in good hands, and I can call and check in on her whenever I want. It's really sad to see the little babies in the intermediate nursery with her that you never see their parents there. I'm there from roughly 10:30 am to 7 or 8 pm every night and there's some babies who I've never seen any of their parents. Me and the Amish lady next to us are just amazed at what these parents could be doing? There's no where else I want to be but there!

I learned this morning in the camper what it feels like when the furnace runs out of gas! Last night it didn't seem like it was heating very well but I was so tired last night I didn't pay it much attention until my alarm woke me up at midnight to pump and I realized it was pretty cold in the camper. I fiddled with the furnace remote and never could get it to work. Finally after getting up at 4 am and then at 7 to pump it finally hit me as to that the gas is probably out. So after being lazy and curling back up in the bed continually getting colder and colder, when Ben called as he was going to work, he told me how to switch out the tanks, and sure enough, 2 mintues later, the camper was warming up again. Oh well, I wouldn't have gotten up and out at midnight to do it anyway. Thankfully it wasn't too chilly out last night!

I know I've got to stop buying things or there will be nothing left on my registry, but there are some things that I must have before she comes home, like a baby monitor. I've been talking to some other preemie moms on the one board I visit and they all rave about the Angel Care Monitor, which isn't the one I registered for, but is one that has a little mat that they lay on under the sheet and it detects the slightest movement, even them breathing, and alerts you if it hasn't detected any movement in the last 20 seconds. So, even though her episodes tend to be at feeding, I'd rather be safe than sorry, so I deleted off the monitor I registerd for and ordered the Delux Angel Care Monitor. You can see more about it here: Angel Care Delux Plus Monitor

Here's a few pictures of bean today...in one of them you can see she is grinning just a little!

Day 15: 2 Weeks Old!!

It's strange to think it's been 2 weeks since she was born! It seems like yesterday but also seems like forever ago!

When I came in this am they said she took 63% of her feedings orally yesterday, which was kinda surprising to me, that's 5 of the 8 feedings in a day. Today she seems a little more tired.

We tried breast feeding at 11, and she did pretty good, then we tried to finish wit the bottle and all that took an hour, which was probably too long to try to get her to feed, it just wears her out. So at 2 and 5 we decided to let her go through her tube because she was just still so tired from the marathon feeding earlier today.

She gained more weight, was up to 1.97, which is almost 4 lb 6 oz, so she keeps gaining good. She takes my breast milk for almost all of her feedings unless she runs out before I get back with more. I'm still not producing as much as is "normal" but hopefully the medicine will kick in soon. I'm making enough per pump to feed her, but she will soon go over that!

She was awake for the 8 pm feeding, so I decided to try her with the bottle again. She was doing good and then about half way through she got choked, worse than she had ever choked before. She scared the crap out of me! It seemed to last an eternity, I know it didn't, but it seemed that way! She was turning blue, or "dusky" as they like to call it, and they helped walked me through what to do and then she was fine, but good grief! I guess I'm glad that happened here so I now know what to do, but I hope that never happens again, not that bad! It totally just drained me, I went back to the camper after that and just went to sleep!

After that we just gave her the rest via her feeding tube and she was good to go.

I think we may be pushing too hard on bottle feedings just yet, she's still really early, so we are just going to take it a little slower. I'd rather her take it slow and be good to go as opposed to rushing her, she can take as much time as she needs so she will be healthy and good to go when we get home.

Other than the choking episode, the rest of the day was good, and of course, more pictures!

Day 14: 35 Weeks and 2 Bottles!!

We all got up and going this morning and had breakfast/lunch at Cracker Barrel and got to the hospital a little around noon.

Francis was her nurse again today and she said she had already taken a full 38 cc bottle at her 8 am feeding!! She took her 11 am feeding through her feeding tube and we just let her rest once we got there so she would have enough energy to try her bottle again at 2pm.

She was also still in her open air crib and the isolet had been removed, so she is good to go now in the open air crib!!

The nurse practitioner came around and said she is also off her caffeine now, so we will see how that goes, but I'm sure she will be fine. It was basically a stimulant to keep her from having her little episodes, but since they don't occur very often and typically are around feedings, so they think she will be good to go. She also said she's doing excellent and if she keeps it up at this rate, she could be out of there in another week! I'm not going to get my hopes up too much on a week, but hopefully within two weeks we can go home!

I fed her at her 2pm feeding and she took not quite half of it for me and then Francis came over and showed us a little better way to get her to take it and she finished the rest of it for Francis, so that's 2 FULL Bottles in One Day!!

She's also 35 weeks today, and that's typically when they really start catching on to sucking, so she's right on schedule!!

Ben's parents left a little after 2 and headed back to Missouri.

Ben and I then left a little after 3 pm after I pumped again to run some errands and to have dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, yum-o!!

So, then back to the hospital by 6 for another pumping and to tell our sweet pea good night!

Now back to the camper for laundry and other odds and ends with Ben and Tucker.

Here's a few pictures from todays 2 pm feeding!

Day 13: Open Air Crib and Grandparents Visiting

Thankfully I made it into the hospital before the traffic for Thunder Over the Ohio really got going. The Dr was making her rounds right after I got there and today we started weining Mallory to the open air crib, Yeah!

Basically that means that she is now in an open air crib but the isolet is still next to in on "stand by." They check her temp at every feeding and as long as she maintains her body temp for a day or so, they will do away with the isolet and she will just have her open air crib.

She took 17 cc this am at her 8 am feeding and then at 5 pm I tried her again with the bottle and she took 6 cc then, so she's doing better. That's the first time we've tried 2 bottles in one day.

We tried breast feeding at 11 am feeding, but she was about 1/2 asleep, so she did about like she normally does, nothing major, but she tries!

Ben and his parents arrived to the hospital around 3 pm, so they finally got to hold Mallory! Here's a few pictures of the proud grandparents!






So, after a good day at the hospital, we are back at the campsite grilling some steaks.

Also, Mallory gained more weight, she's up to 1.91 kg, which is right about 4 lb 4 oz!! They also increased her feedings again to 38cc per feeding!

She's growing like a weed!

Day 12: First piece of mail and more good stuff!

When I got back to the camper tonight Ben called, he said guess what, Mallory just got her first piece of mail! I was like, she's only been here 12 days, how is she already getting mail? Thankfully she isn't already receiving junk mail! Aunt Brenda and Uncle Jim donated moeny in Mallory's name to the National Arbor Day Foundation to plant 50 trees in her name. I will know more of the specifics when I actually see the mail, but that's what I got from what Ben was telling me. How cute, her first mail and trees in her name! It's a good thing!

Today was a good day, no sign of the nurse from yesterday that I don't like!

The drive in was a little rough. Thunder on the Ohio is tomorrow in Louisville and they expect something like 700,000 people?? That seems a bit much to me, but I've never been here for it, so streets are closed and tomorrow will just be chaois downtown, so I'll probably go in earlier than normal tomorrow to try to avoid all the traffic and people!

When I got in today, they had her isolet temp turned down as low as it will go and it seems like she has done good to maintain her temps today, so it's looking very probable that she will get an open air crib tomorrow!!

She also gained more weight, so she's up to 1.845 kilograms!! Because I got there a little late, Paula was already feeding her at 11 am and she took about 16 cc from the bottle today, so thats awesome, getting better every day!

I kangarood again at 2pm for that feeding and then just held her at her 5pm feeding. Here's a few pictures I took of her at her 5pm feeding....she was sucking on her thumb for a bit of the time!





Tomorrow will be a busy day with Ben, Tucker, Ben's parents and Shultz (their dog) all coming to visit Mallory....obvioulsy the dogs will not be visiting Mallory, but will be all in the camper!

Keep praying for Mallory, she's doing great and we want to keep this great progress moving forward!!

Day 11: More weight gain and just overall cuteness!

Ben and Tucker headed out early this am, they will be back on Saturday.

I made it into the hospital around 10:30 this morning, in time to work on "practicing eating" for a while before she took the rest via her feeding tube. She continues to get better every day. She took aroun 9 cc of her 35 cc feeding via the bottle today, so that was up from 3 cc yesterday.

They try to feed her my breast milk as much as possible...of course the nurse, who seemed fairly ditzy, spilled out the rest of it before getting it into the feeding tube. I wasn't very happy since I'm not getting a full supply yet. But Dr Singh got me a prescription today for a medication that is supposed to help increase supply. The same nurse later today pushed her 5pm feeding in too fast, it was gone in like 5 minutes and it should normally take 15-20 minutes, so because it went down so fast she had a little episode where her oxygen saturation levels go down, so again, not very happy with this nurse...I don't even think she told me her name. Perhaps we will not have her again.

We got to do another Kangaroo session today, those are my favorite. I love holding her period, but Kangarooing is my favorite!

Jacqueline, the chaplin, also came by today. Always good to see her...she reminds me so much of my friend Melanie in North Carolina its almost odd!

One of the other girls from our weekly group sessions had her baby yesterdy and she is also in the intermediate nursery with me. We've decided to take the infant CPR class this coming Tuesday morning at 11am, it will be good to know and hope you never need it!

I also got to spend some time talking to the amish mother who has twins right next to me, really nice lady, they are from Munfordsville.

Mallo Bean gained more weight, she's up to 1.825 kilograms which is just about at her birth weight, thats the first weight on her chart, so now it's all improvement from here!

I can't wait to keep trying her with the bottle, I see improvement every day and it's so fun to watch her improve.

Here's a little picture of her sleeping this evening...sleeps like mamma, with her hands always up by her face....I also think she has Ben's toes, I like Ben's toes, so I suppose thats good!

Day 10: Ben visits again and more Skype!

Mallory had another good day, nothing really new on her front, just continuing to slowly improve the suck/swallow reflexes.

She did gain more weight and is up to 1.81 kilograms, which is just over 4 pounds and almost back up to birth weight.

Ben and Tucker came up after work, so we had a later than normal evening at the hospital, we didn't leave until 10 pm. Ben got the chance to hold her for quite a while. I kangaroo'd twice again today. I also got to give her a bath tonight, which she didn't enjoy very much, but I don't think they ever do at this age!

We got to skype into some of the family this evening, so Aunt Brenda, Bud and Susan and Amy, Blake and Eli got to call into see Mallory! Skype is so great, everyone in the nursery night shift thinks of me as the Skype lady! Apparenlty no one else has ever done that before, which I find hard to believe, I know I'm fairly technologically savvy, but no other skypers?? Whatever.

So, for the most part today, I'm just posting quite a few pictures, my favorite is the one with her cute little eyes open while kangarooing next to me in my robe.

Love our little bean!







Also, Tucker is getting used to Mallory's scent by sleeping on and sniffing on her used blankets....he's got to be a good big brother!

Day 9: Kangarooing!!

Sounds like Tucker was going to make sure he got his fair share of pork steak last night...Ben said he had eaten half of his pork steak when he went outside to turn off the grill...and he came back to an empty plate and Tucker eating the rest of his steak! Happy Birthday Tucker. Ben said he'd let it slide because it was his birthday and he was going to get the rest anyway!

This morning I washed some of Mallory's blankets and onsies and then headed to the hospital around 10am. She was doing great, I think she had one little episode over night, but they are only coming about once a day and it's always sometime around when she eats, it has to with reflux with is normal in preemies. Dr Singh said at this point since it only happens once a day, they aren't going to medicate for it, just let her grow out of it, and then if for some reason she doesn't, then they can medicate, but since it's only happening about once a day, they think she will in another week or two.

She gained a little more weight yesterday, up to 1.79 kilograms now, which is almost 4 pounds again, so slowly but surly we are inching back up!

She's opening her eyes much more often now and becoming quite the little wiggle worm. They had her laying on her stomach earlier and she woke up and just didn't like something and was propping herself up with her hands and her head was up! I was like I didn't think that was supposed to happen for quite some time....she's our little over achiever!

I got to Kangaroo twice today, and that's what I'm going to try to do every day twice a day now, each 1 1/2 hours a time. She's keeping her body temp up so they don't mind that I do it that much and it helps her as much as it helps me!

The nurse practitioner came by this morning too and said that she did have her head ultrasound yesterday morning early before Dr Singh could cancel it, but it was normal, so now we just know for sure!

I just love her little eyes, you just wonder what all they see!

Here's a couple more pictures from today, one she kinda has her eyes open, hoping to get some better ones with her eyes open in the next few days.

Day 8: 1 Week Old, Anniversaries and Birthday's!

It doesn't seem like it's already been a week since little bean has been born! Thankfully I'm feeling better, still a little sore from not using those muscles for so long, but other than that, doing much better.

Mallory is doing great as well! We thought she was going to have an ultrasound of her head today, sometimes preemies will have brain bleeds, althought they didn't think she had one, it was just a routine thing. I asked Dr Singh this morning if she'd had hers yet and she said she didn't think she was supposed to. So she did a little checking and she isn't going to have one. Dr Singh said she doesn't schedule them unless they are 32 weeks or less when they are born or have signs of needing one, so Mallo Bean is good to go!!

Today is also our 7th Anniversary!! Mallory was going to be induced today, but she didn't want to share her birthday with Mom and Dad and Tucker too....today is also Tucker's 7th Birthday!

Ben and I celebrated last night and Mallory and I will celebrate in the hospital tonight and Ben and Tucker are going to grill Pork Steaks (yuck) to celebrate at home tonight!

Mallory's had a good day. She didn't gain any weight from yesterday but she didn't lose any either, so keeping even is good.

I can tell she's opening her eyes more, and they are just so cute!

We had another "feeding practice" session today. Attempt at the breast and bottle for about 30 minutes and then we give her the rest through the feeding tube. I can tell her sucking reflexes are getting better so hopefully by the end of the week she will be taking more orally. It just wears her out, so we only try once a day for now until she gets stronger.

I think I'm kinda settling into a routine now that Ben is back at work and I'm just here by myself to come and go as I like. So I try to get here a little before lunch, or sooner if possible, then have some feeding practice around 2 and then run a few errands if necessary and then back to the hospital until around 7 or 8 at night is the plan. That way I get plenty of Mallory time!!

A lot of time I'm just sitting here watching her, reading, on the computer like now or continuing to knit, just anything to sit here with her!

Here's a couple pictures from today, they were taken through the isolet because I'm not coordinated enough to take them while holding her, but regardless, it's always fun to see her little face!!

Day 7: Mallory meets her Memaw!

Thankfully I got a good nights sleep last night, got rested up and feel much better!

We cooked a breakfast here at the camper with Susan and Nick and then Susan and I went on to the hospital and Memaw and Mom were not far behind us coming from Elkton.

Mallory was just snoozing away! The Nurse Practicioner came by and said everything was going really good, she gained a little bit more weight, 1.77....I'm not sure the measure, I'll have to look it up, but somewhere in the high 3 pounds I believe is the conversion.

She continues to have better body temp regulation, so I'm hoping that some time next week she will be able to be moved into an open air crib.

I got to try to breast feed her again, not that she really does much but she does seem to enjoy it! So then we moved onto a bottle, she's still not real interested in that either, but really isn't supposed to be interested in them until 34-35 weeks and she was just 34 weeks today. So then I just got to hold her while she was fed through the feeding tube.

We got to try out one of the Sleep Sheep I bought, she really seemed to like the sounds of the whales, she was really relaxed!!

Here's a picture Sue took with her and sleep sheep:



I wish mom and Memaw would have gotten to hold her more, but it just didn't work out today, but they got to see her, touch her and hold her little hand!

Ben and I then went to the Cheesecake Factory for our Anniversary Dinner since tomorrow we will have been married for 7 years! It's also Tuckers 7th Birthday and Mallory will be a week old tomorrow! Exciting stuff!

To thank all the great nurses that took such good care of me for those 7 weeks in 3C, we got 3 cheesecakes to take back to them so they could eat on those for the next week or so! They were great and I know I owe a lot to them to help keep Mallory in for 7 more weeks!

After dinner we went back to the hospital, took the nurses the cheesecakes and then went back to see Mallory and tell her good night. She was all swaddled up and sleeping good, so we didn't wake her, just told her how much we loved her and that I'd see her tomorrow and Ben on Wednesday.

Now back to the camper for a relaxing rest of the evening.