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!