Day 34 and Day 35: We are Home!!!

I couldn't bring myself to write a blog on Saturday...I was just to anxious because I knew if we could get through Saturday we could come home on Sunday...and I just couldn't write about it, but I'll do it now since we are home!

Ben and his parents came up on Saturday and Aunt Sharon, Mike and Memaw also dropped by after Matt's Graduation from UK with his Masters in Architecture, so Mallory got quite the number of visitors on Saturday.

I also went out and got the nurses of the 3N Nursery cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory like we did for our nurses on 3C, it just coincided with Nurses Appreciation week, but they deserve it, they've been great!

We went down to J Gumbo's for dinner Saturday night and then back to the camper to anxiously await for Sunday morning where I could call into Mary Jo and see if Mallory "passed". It was the longest few hours....

But, Sunday morning came and I called into Mary Jo around 7:30 and got the official word, she passed and as long as nothing major happened between now and when we got her packed up, we were going home!

Taking Mallory home on Mother's Day, how awesome is that!!

So, I prodded everyone up and going and we got to the hospital a little after 10 to get the paperwork up and going so we could get home!

I was glad Paula was our nurse this morning, she has had Mallory so much over the past month so it was good that she was the one to discharge us.

We went through all the do's and don'ts and appointments, etc. Waited for the Dr to come around and see her, fed her at noon, got her take home monitor going and then Barb helped us get her all hooked into the car.

Here's a couple pictures of Mallory sitting in her car seat in the hospital, her modeling her going home outfit and then her sleeping soundly (albeit very uncomfortable looking) on the ride home!








Susan drove the Jetta and Mallory and I rode in the back while Ben and his Dad went back and hooked up to the camper and brought it home. Have no intentions of camping anytime soon after living in it for a month!

The ride home was fine, she slept the whole time, hardly uttered a peep. We got her home and settled in and fed and she's just done great!

Mom's coming in tomorrow and we will see how the first night goes!

SO HAPPY TO FINALLY BE HOME!!!!


Oh yeah, forgot to mention, Mallo Bean weighed 5 pounds 10 oz when we left the hospital!!

Day 33: Our Little Chunky Monkey

I made my way back to Louisville today feeling better about everything.

I got to the hospital around 1:30 pm, so I didn't get there in time for her noon feeding, but speech therapy did that one and she did great, took 75 cc and for the nurse at the 8 am feeding, she took 80 cc!

Her weight now, 5 pounds 7 ounces!! She's gained 4 ounces since I left her Wednesday afternoon! Good grief, she's growing like a weed! She even looks bigger to me! She's our little chunky monkey, which is great since she was so small when she was born. Can't wait to see what she weighs tomorrow!

I feed her at 4 pm and I can tell in just a couple days that she's really doing much better and really taking it better than I've ever seen her take it before, so I'm thinking maybe stuff has really finally clicked with her! Fingers crossed, we will see. I keep telling myself, she will let us know when she's ready!

I have to say that I love my iPhone, for some who was so skeptical to move to it from the black berry, it's the greatest thing ever! When our ancient gps (think 2005 gps....ancient for gps's!) died back in December I was really dreading having to buy a new one and put it off and put it off and before I ended up in the hospital I read about the iPhone app Motion X GPS Drive. Tom Tom and various other traditional named gps' have apps, some cost almost $100, but this one, Motion X GPS Drive, had great reviews and cost.....99 cents! So, I figured it can't hurt! So I downloaded it and LOVE IT! It's as good or better than the Magellan that we had earlier and you can still get calls, texts and use the ipod function of your iphone while using it. 99 cents doesn't get you voice turn by turn directions but for either $3 a month or $24 a year you can get turn by turn directions and automatic updates. Hmm...no brainer, $24.99 or over $100 for a gps that just uses another cig lighter hole! I love it, it's great, beyond worth the $24.99!

Ben's parents have arrived to Utica this evening and they along with Ben will be heading over here tomorrow. We got the campground to extend our site for another day, our month was up tomorrow but they have given us through tomorrow. So, regardless, if Mallory comes home Sunday or not, the camper will come home. We are so close and to add another week at the campground it's going to be like $275, which is funny since a month is only $400, and I saw a weekly hotel by Clarksville, IN for $175 a week, so I'll either do that or just go back and forth to home every other day and make use of the Ronald McDonald house for a couple nights, but no more camper after tomorrow night.

I'll call in and check to see how her evening feedings went later tonight and head back to the hospital in the morning.

Here's some more super cute pictures from today of Bean!

Day 32: Not Today....

Obviously Mallory isn't quite ready to come home yet, she had another dsat sometime last night which started her "go home" clock again, 72 more hours. We were so close, I really thought today was the day.

So, after a 2 1/2 hour total meltdown this morning, I've composed myself and have had a fairly productive day. Ben told me during the meltdown that I needed a break and was not going back to Louisville today, I needed time at home, which is what I've done.

I'm really not sure Ben knew what to do with me this morning, I'm not one to cry often, and meltdowns I've had I'm sure I could count on one had, so he decided to stay home with me and let me do what he thought might make me happy "out to lunch and shopping." Love my poo!

So, I wallowed in my own self pitty until about 9:30 and then finally got up and got a shower.

Mom had already planned to come and clean the house today anyway, so she came on up and helped a ton and now I feel better about Mallory coming home when she does because at least the house is pretty much clean now. Thanks Mom, you are great!

Ben and I ran some errands, which included two of my favorite places, Target and TJ Maxx of course, and lunch at O'Charlies and after this am, a Margarita was due for and it was good. If I wasn't still pumping I think I could have had two or three....

Either way, doing better now, coming to terms that she will come home when she's ready. The next earliest now would be Sunday, which would be a great Mother's Day present, but I'm going to try not to get my hopes up...

Ben is now mowing our hay field, er yard, and I'm trying to get a few more baby things put away, so perhaps it was good she put herself off a few more days, I feel like the house is much more ready for her now.

I've called once today to check in on her and she's doing good and I'll check on her again at the nurses change at 7 pm and will go back again tomorrow.

So, keep your thoughts and prayers coming our way and hopefully we will have our baby home with us soon!

Day 31: 1 Month old today

Mallo Bean is 1 month old today and I'm too anxious at this point to write much....

If she can get through 4am this am with no episodes we bring her home tomorrow!!

Ben and I came back to Utica this afternoon late, packed up most of the stuff from the camper and my fingers, toes, arms, and legs are crossed that she makes it through a-ok and we come home tomorrow....finally!

I will know first thing tomorrow morning and then Ben and I will head to Louisville to go bring her home!

So, keep those prayers coming, I'm super excited and anxious all rolled into one!!

Day 30: Outfit Modeling

Today was another good day. I got to the hospital around 11 this morning ready to see how she idid overnight. No apnea's/desats overnight!! Hopefully the simply thick stuff they are putting in her milk now is helping!

So I fed her again today at nood, 4 and 8 pm. We did change the nipple on her bottle at the 8 pm feeding because she was using one that had the slowest flow and with the added thickener its like she was trying to suck a milk shake through a small straw, lots of sucking and not much going in. So we went to the next nipple up at 8pm and it really seemed to help. She didn't have any problems with it going too fast and it didn't seem like it was taking forever for her to get her milk.

The monitor company is going to come by the hospital tomorrow morning and do my "class" on the monitor, so that should be good, will take notes!

We weighed her again tonight before I left, she was up to 2.345 kg, not quite 5 lb 3 oz, so she just keeps gaining!

Ben and Tucker are on their way here as we speak. Ben's got to be in Lexington tomorrow for work, so they are coming over tonight so he can go over there in the am, see Mallory tomorrow afternoon late and then head back tomorrow night with Tucker.

I believe her last recordable episode was 4 am Monday morning, so she has to get to 4 am Thursday morning for us to go home on Thursday, so if it's looking like it's a possibility of Thursday I may go home with him so we can come back in 1 vehicle and then he can come back this weekend to get the camper. I'm trying not to get my hopes up that it could be Thursday, but who knows....it would be awesome if it was that soon!

Here's a few photos of 2 of her cute outfits she had on today....so many cute things she has already!!

Day 29: 4 Weeks ago today....

Wow! 4 Weeks ago today Mallory was born, and between her and I we've been in the hospital for 11 weeks and 2 days....ready to click those ruby slippers together and get home already!!

Ben and Tucker left early am again like they normally do on Monday mornings. I got to the hospital a little around 11 this morning so I could do her feeding at noon and see how her night went.

Sounds like things went well last night and she gained a little more so she's up to 5 lbs 2 oz! She's looking much more filled out!

Her feedings went well today. They started adding simply thick to her milk today, basically that helps make it thicker and easier to not get choked on and to stay in her belly better, even though she doesn't seem to have much of an issue with refulx. So, anything that will help works for me! She didn't seem to mind at all.

They are also going to get us set up with a monitor when we go home. So they are either going to come to the hospital tomorrow or Wednesday to give me my "class" on the monitor. It's an hour or more long ordeal, which is good, I need to know all the specifics for when we do go home on how to use it properly and eliminate as many false alarms as possible!

I fed her at noon, 4 and 8 pm today, and she did good for me all 3 times, hopefully she will keep that up throughout the night too. I'm glad I'm at least getting to feed her half her daily feedings. I guess if I got my butt up early I could do the 8 am one as well, but I think 12+ hours at the hospital is a little much for just about everyone and I've got to take care of myself as well and not do too much and get sick, because if I'm sick I can't see her and that's not doing either of us any good.....so I guess until we are home half will have to do.

Here's a few more pictures from today....still just can't get over how cute she is!!

Day 28: Perhaps we should build an ark!

What a rainy past few days! I don't have a rain gauge at the camper, but good grief, what a ton of rain! I see pictures on Facebook of all the flooding back home and the big mess around Nashville, I'm ready for the rain to stop!!!

We were fairly lazy this morning but we got up and going and got to the hospital before her noon feeding so we could feed Mallory.

She just keeps gaining weight like crazy, 2 ounces a day for the past couple days, she's up to 5 lb 1.5 ounces now! She's going to be 6 pounds by this time next week if she keeps this up!

Apparently she had a little episode while she was eating this morning early, so we restart the clock on when she comes home....

But, instead of having to wait 5 days from the last episode they may let us just wait 3 days and send us home with a home monitor, which really wouldn't be bad, it would kind of ween me from all the monitors there and give me a little peace of mind too, so we will see what they have to say tomorrow, but having the home monitor for several weeks or a month or so may not be a bad thing either. They aren't quite as concerned because the only time she's having them is when she eats and you are right there with her and you know she's having it, so that's better than her just not breathing for no reason when you aren't around!

So much to have to worry about with preemies!!!

Ben and I made reservations at 1:30 for Lynn's Paradise Cafe, if you don't know what it is, it's a place in Louisville that has been on Food Network. Guy Fiatte and Bobby Flay have done show at/with. It's quite the eccentric little place, but wow, Yum-O, super good!! We split an order of Bourbon Ball French Toast and Horseradish BLT Home Fries and then Ben finally got his real Mint Julep! It was packed and it's a place we will def go back to!

We wanted to kill a little more time and let her sleep good until her 4pm feeding so we ran by the Children's Science Museum and did a tour through that. I'd been through it before but it had been a while. I'll be glad when we can actually take Mallory there!

So, back to the hospital for her 4pm feeding, pumping and then just holding her for a while. I just love having her lay on my chest! Ben got to hold her too, so we both had some good Mallory time today!

Back to the camper now, still raining, sitting watching some TV and having some Tucker time now.

Keep praying that her apnea's will slow down or become non-existent soon!!

Day 27: Super Saver in the City Limits

Today brought more visitors for Mallory. Mom and Sue headed up this morning and Ben and Tucker got over her later this afternoon.

Mom and Susan had a good visit with Mallory. She was much more attentive for them and wanted to entertain instead of nap after her noon feeding. Oh well, we enjoyed her and finally after her 4 pm feeding she got some rest.

Her feedings still seem to be going well. I've got to learn to be a little forcefull when it comes to feeding her...it just takes time. I think she's tired but she just needs to be pushed a little more...lots to learn when it comes to this Mommy thing!

Ben arrived around 4:30 and since Mallory was sleeping good, we went to the family waiting room where there's a cushy couch and big screen tv, so we made ourselves comfy and watched the couple hours leading up to the Derby and then watched the race.

As I mentioned yesterday, I participated in the nurses pool for the derby and drew Super Saver. I seem to have a knack at picking the winners, I picked Mine that Bird last year, and Super Saver has the same jocky as Mine That Bird did last year. So we watched the Derby and Super Saver won! $20 dollars for me, LOL!

Ben headed back to the Camper to take out Tucker and to find us a spot for dinner, Mint Juleps were to be on me tonight with my "hefty" winnings and I fed Bean her 8pm feeding and then headed back to the camper.

Ben found the City Limits Bar and Grill down the road from the campground and right next to the Teen Dance Club....didn't know Shephardsville had such things! Either way, we finally got down there around 9:45 tonight, starving by this point. The place was hopping and music was pouring out of the doors. I must say it was the middle age crisis bar for Shephardsville because most looked to be 20+ years older than us and living it up.

So, we got some good people watching, fair karoke, decent bar food and NO Mint Juleps! What kind of Kentucky bar is this?? Oh well, our dinner and a few drinks still cost less than the $20 I won, so dinner was on the NICU nurses tonight I suppose!

As I said in the earlier Blog, Bean was up to 4 lb 15 oz for today's weighing, so we are just shy of 5 pounds!! The breast milk is doing a little body good!

Ben and I will spend more time with her tomorrow and hope she keeps on doing well so we can bring little Bean home next week! I can't wait!!

Day 26: The Tube is Gone

Today has been a good day, we were able to take her tube out at her 4 pm and as long as she continues to eat well, it shouldn't have to go back in!!! Now you can really see that adorable little face even better!

Here's some pictures of Bean sans the tube!








The nurses had a pool to draw a horse for the derby and they asked me to participate, they were like you may as be one of us you know about everything here now! So, my dollar got mr Super Saver, so go super saver!!

Bean was up to almost 4 lb 14 oz and before I left tonight, I stayed late to get to give her the 8 pm feeding, so they weighed her again and now she's 4 lb 15 oz!! Almost 5 pounds, how great!

Dr Singh said she may be able to go home as early as Sunday or Monday, but I think this next week, I'm just not going to get too hopeful that it could be Sunday.

I found out tonight that a friend from high school passed away today at 33. Shannon Taylor Waggoner will always be remembered for het laugh, she was so funny....many fun slumber parties at her house playing with her hampster mr pooters and playing the juija board. Prayers for her mom, husband and son. Not sure yet what happened but she woke up not feeling well and then passed out in the floor and was without oxygen for about 45 minutes and her organs started shutting down. She had som health problems but I'm not sure it had anything to do with what happened. Makes you realize how short life can be and make sure you enjoy it!

Mom, Susan and Ben are all headed over on Saturday, so Mallory will have many more photo opps tomorrow!

Love out Bean!!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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!

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!