More Pictures

Sarah and the Bean

A Family Picture taken a few weeks ago

Mom and Sarah this morning

Sarah's Debut

Sarah made her debut on Sunday and everything went off without a hitch. It was an absolutely magnificent day (if I do say so myself) As usual, Sarah was the beaming star of the show and loved all the attention.

We are so grateful to everyone who came to see Sarah. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to express how important each and every one of you are to us for supporting us through our mission to get Sarah home. We could not have goten through the last four months with out you. Sunday was the perfect culmination of our long journey.

A special thanks to a few people: The NICU staff that were able to make it -Sharon, Cindy, Astri, Karen (and Teresa who was working on Sunday and couldn't join us). They took care of Sarah on her first few hours of life and it meant a lot to us that came.  Great-Aunt Paula, who was here from Honolulu. And of course to both Grandma's for planning out the day, from the food to every last decoration. It was a party we will not soon forget. 

Looking Forward to Sunday

We are looking forward to Sunday and finally having our welcome home party. It is supposed to be a gorgeous day out so we should have a nice gathering on the patio. As the doctor reminded me, Sarah is not allowed to make her official debut at the event, though she will be in her bedroom and you can go upstairs and take a peek at her if she is awake. Especially with this bad flu season, we just can't take any chances. We hope you all understand.

It should be a nice afternoon. We hope to see you there.

6 lbs. 6 ounces Today

Happy Birthday Auntie Castine

Mid February Report

Sarah continues to thrive at home.  She weighed in today at 6 pounds exactly.  Her pediatrician says she is doing wonderful.  She also got one of her set of shots.  We are spacing them out a bit to not overwhelm her little body.  She seemed to tolerate it well.  She continues to eat from the bottle better and better each day.  

We also swung by the NICU today to give them an invite to our little welcome home party.  We hope that some of the people that helped save her life would join us in our celebration. 

All in all it was a nice day. Sarah and I were on our own and while it was a bit exhausting, it was fun spending the day alone with my girl. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Welcome Home Open House Details...

It is with great gratitude to G-d Almighty that I am pleased to present to you the invite for Sarah Chaya's welcome home party. As you can imagine, we are overjoyed to have our princess home after 114 days in the Tarzana NICU.

Both Grandma Carol and Grandma Mimi have planned a little open house in Sarah's honor. In order to protect Sarah's immune system, she can be not in crowds of people. Therefore Sarah will not be making her debut at the event. However, hopefully you will be able to peek in at her and say hi that way. Thanks grandma for making this pretty invite!

As the date is quickly approaching, formal invites will not be going out in the mail (I don't have too much time to put together an address list), so this is your invite!

The open house is at our home. If you need our home address you can send an email to:

 sarahchayarees (aat) gmail (dawt) com

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. We hope to see you March 2nd.

 No RSVP required

As with any picture on the blog, you can click on it to enlarge and save or print if necessary.

4 Months Old Today!!!

We took Sarah to the Doctor today for her weekly checkup. Dad, Grandpa and Grandma and I were taking bets as to what Sarah weighs. We can really start to see signficant weighs changes daily so we were all excited to find out how much she actually weighed. I won the bet with the weigh in of 5 lbs 8.5 ounces (I guessed 5 lbs 9 ounces) ! She has nearly gained a whole pound in the 10 days since leaving the NICU! The Doctor was amazed. It is all the hamburgers we feed her.
The baby girl is 4 months old today! I can not believe how time flies! We were praying so hard to have her home by this time and are so grateful she is home now! She is our little miracle. Happy 4 months old birthday sweet baby girl.

Do's and Don'ts - Containing Baby

Who Does Sarah Look Like?

Sarah

Mom

Dad

Do's and Don'ts - Fun Games for Baby

Wednesday morning

Sarah had a very good night. I took first shift at about 9:30, and she didn't fuss, spit up, or cry through the entire night. Erika took over at around 2:00-2:30, and Sarah continued to rest peacefully. What a great girl!

Today is the first full day with Nurse Amy. She is going to come during the week and take care of Sarah from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. so Erika can get some more sleep. I am back at work today, so Erika will need to be well rested in order to handle more of the overnight watch by herself.

Do's and Don'ts - Nursing Baby

Our First Outting

Pretty in purple.

Grandma feeds Sarah so well!

We ventured out today to go to our first pediatrician appointment in her office. I was very sure to not wait in the waiting room for even 25 seconds and asked all nurses in the office if everything they used had been cleaned immediately before our visit. It was all clean.

Sarah weighed in at 4 lbs 14 ounces! We are going to take into account that this is her first time on that scale, but, if it is right, she gained 5 ounces over her first weekend home!

Now a recap of the weekend. Sarah slept almost non-stop from the time we brought her home on Friday, until just about 9p.m. last night. That was some SOLID sleep! She did wake up a few times on her own to eat and we gave her the bottle. She ate almost all of the bottle a few times. Then her tummy seemed to be bothering her from about 9pm last night. She cried for hours every time we fed her, arching her back and spitting up a lot. That is normal reflux for preemies. We got her back on the Zantac to help alleviate some of that pain, and we know it will help.

Grandma stayed the night to help us out while we figure out the nursing situation, but it looks like we will have a new nurse by Tuesday.

24 hours down

157,656 hours to go.

Sent from my iPhone

First night

So. What can I say? After 114 nights and 113 days in the NICU, Sarah
Chaya is finally home. She doesn't need any oxygen normally, but we do
give her some when she is taking her bottle. She still has her nasal
feeding tube to make sure she gets all her food.

She slept most of the day yesterday. She loved the car ride home. She
loves her little bassinet. She loves getting down on the floor to play
with the dogs (kidding of course!).

Erika had arranged for a home health nurse to come from 11-7
overnight. So we could get some sleep. Unfortunately, the nurse had
bad cat allergies, and we asked her to leave at about 12. We felt bad,
but Sarah's health is paramount.

After we fed Sarah at 12, Erika took the first shift in her room. At
about 2:30, I awoke to warm Sarah's milk; I promptly went back to
bed! Erika gave Sarah her 3am feeding and then went back to sleep
around 3:45 after cleaning the feeding tube.

I again awoke at 05:30 to warm the milk. Erika went to our room to get
some solid zzz's and I fed Sarah. I've been watching Sarah sleep ever
since!

Sent from my iPhone

Sarah's room is ready for her to come home!

Erika took some pictures of Sarah's room. We love all the cute furniture and bedding! We're ready for her to come home.

Here's a wide view of the crib, changing table and dresser.

A closer view of the same.

A view of the rocking chair, bed, and Sarah's bassinet.

And, finally, a view of Sarah in that bassinet.

Friday report

Sarah began all of her feedings last night on the bottle. She tried four times in a row, which I think may be a record. Good job, girl! She never finished a whole bottle, but took between 10 and 20 mL each time. She's working on it and will be there soon, we just know it!

She lost a little weight last night (25 grams) and now is 2075 grams. That's still about 4 pounds 10 ounces, and we'll take it!

Thursday update - Happy 16 Week Birthday!

You never realize how busy you are until you can't find three minutes a day to post a blog update. Geez! I can only imagine how busy we will be when she comes home (soon!).

So. Erika and I have been really busy this week, her with the baby, me with trying to wrap up everything at work in anticipation of our impending homecoming. At this time, I can't say exactly when Sarah will be coming home (all I can say is "soon!"). Almost everything at home is ready for Sarah; we have even decided which outfit she'll be coming home in (Auntie Ruthie bought the winning outfit!). I installed the car seat bases in both the BMW and the MINI. Unless Erika takes the BMW in to the Toyota dealer and picks up that minivan she wants, we will be picking her up in the BMW.

Last night Sarah had a fantastic feeding, as she took all 50 mL in the bottle. Nurse Sonjah did a great job with her! When Sarah is awake and interested, she is really demonstrating that she can master the bottle as well as any fat, happy, full-term baby; the only problem is that she is not awake and interested at each feeding. She'll get there soon.

We have also started to say goodbye to all the nurses, RTs, and NICU staff. Since we don't know exactly when Sarah is coming home (it's soon!), we want to say goodbye to everyone just in case we don't see them again. Of course, we now end up saying goodbye to everyone every single time we leave the NICU. It is very emotional for us, as everyone there has kept our baby going strong and brought our dream of bringing her home that much closer. We love all of you!

Thank You!

Thank you to all of you who have bought the baby things from our registry! We have nothing for when she comes home, as our focus has been on her in the NICU and we haven't needed anything. We really needed them, and I can't wait to put them to use when she comes home, God Willing soon!

Car Seat Challenge

Sarah passed her "Car Seat Challenge" this morning. The "car seat challenge" assesses whether preemies who are almost ready to go home are prone to episodes of apnea (stopping breathing), bradycardia (slow heart rate), or desaturation (low oxygen levels) when seated in their car seat.

Yippe Sarah. One more step closer to home for you!

Weekend Update

Ok, I apologize for not updating much this week.  I could say it is a taste of what is to come when Sarah comes home, but that is not a good excuse. My excuse is I have spent almost all of my free time last week with Sarah, pumping and sleeping, while Roger has been trying to get better.  Enough about me..now on to Sarah.  

The baby girl weighs in at 2020 grams or 4 lbs 8 ounces.  She continues to improve on her bottle feedings.  We are having another conference on Sunday to review her progress and discuss her homecoming.  It is getting exciting folks!  We will update you on the results of the meeting either on Sunday night or Monday.  In the mean time, enjoy these pictures I took with the BIG girl today. 

Update: The meeting went well. Stay tuned for details on Sarah's homecoming, God willing, soon.

Sarah's beautiful face with no oxygen hose. I can't get enough of those cheeks.  

 She is getting a double chin! I LOVE IT!

Mommy and Sarah 

Tuesday Update

Sarah is off her oxygen!!  As I said yesterday, she was doing so well over the weekend, they gave it a shot yesterday and she did it.  Sating in the 90's without any help!  Way to go girl.  She still needs a little bit of oxygen help when she is bottle feeding, but still not much.  This is HUGE people.  It means that the baby girl will be able to go out places without her oxygen and she will only need oxygen for eating time(not that I am planning on taking her anywhere after she comes home)! I am so proud of her.  I will post pictures of her beautiful face later.

MLK Monday

Sarah had a nice steady weekend of weight gain.  She weighed in at 1900 grams or 4 lbs 3 ounces.  She is getting used to taking the bottle a few times a day, even though, she has yet to finish the feeding on her own.  She has come very close a few times, eating 38mL and 36mL out of her 42mL on 2 separate occasions.  Her oxygen remains at the lowest possible setting without having it off .2 liters and room air.  Sarah continues to need a little extra oxygen to help her out when she bottle feeds so they leave on the canula's for that.  

On another note, Daddy isn't feeling well today, so he doesn't get to see Sarah.  We hope you get better soon.  I know how hard it is not to able to see the baby girl.  Even for one day it can feel like forever until you see her again. 

Finally Friday report

So, our meeting went very well yesterday. According to weight criteria, Sarah is now ready to come home. Unfortunately, weight isn't her only problem right now, so she won't be coming home this weekend. :(

Her main issue continues to be feeding; she is just not making enough progress toward taking all of her food in the bottle. She still relies on the feeding tube for more than 80% of her milk. However, we did discuss the issue and Erika and I are both pretty happy with the result.

Previously, Sarah was just fed once per shift, if she was awake at a scheduled feeding time. This didn't allow her to get enough practice in, and she wasn't getting much better (but she was improving a little). Now, anytime that Sarah is awake and alert at a scheduled feeding time, she will get her bottle. This will allow her to practice, and hopefully perfect, her feeding a lot quicker than the once per shift method.

Homeward bound in just a few weeks, hopefully!

Oh, and she gained 40 grams last night, and is now up to 1855 grams.

Thursday morning

Sarah again slept through almost the entire night. Keep it up girl!

She lost a little weight last night, 15 grams, but that can be attributed to the large poop she had after lunch yesterday. It was BIG.

We're meeting with Dr. Banks today to discuss our discharge plan. We are excited, but scared! We'll update this afternoon to let you know what is going on.

Wednesday morning

Sarah gained another 30 grams last night, and is now at 1830 grams. That's over four pounds! Yahoo!

Sarah was wide awake most of the day, so much so that she was too tuckered out to bottle feed with Erika last night at 9:00 pm. Nurse Bianca was going to bottle feed her at midnight, but Sarah was still sleeping. It wasn't until 3:00 am that Sarah finally started to stir, and was able to take 15 mL in her bottle. After that, she had a nice bath at 5:00 am, and then daddy came to hold her at 6:00 am. She slept the entire time I was there!

And as much as all of you love these videos Erika keeps posting, I have to tell you that I love them more! It's hard being at work all day when momma gets to spend time with Sarah, but it really is nice to be able to check the blog and see what is going on. I love it! Thanks to Joe for the video camera!

Sarah in her Bouncer

Tuesday morning

Sarah gained 55 grams last night. She is just getting so big. She will be 4 pounds by the end of the week, hopefully!

As you can see from all the videos, Sarah really has a great little personality. She talks when she needs something, she is quiet when she doesn't. Awake all day, asleep most of the night. I really hope she can keep this up! Parenting should be a breeze if she gives us the cues we need to change the diaper, to feed her, to put her to bed. We don't know what we're doing. I'm glad she does!

Watching Daddy Watch Me

A BIG Yawn

Birth Certificate

I am ordering Sarah's Birth Certificate this week.  Any idea how many certified copies I need?  I have no idea...

Monday Morning Update

Sarah with Binky

Sarah had a good weekend. She weighs in now at 1750 grams or just about 3 lbs. 14 ounces. She is still taking 2 bottles a day and on Friday she finished her entire bottle! Sarah was measured last night, as she is every Sunday night, and was 40 cm long (27.5 at birth). Her feeding tube was moved back to her nose to allow her to eat better too.

As you can see we found our video camera! Hurray for video's!

Sarah Crying for the Camera

Friday noses report

Look at that cute little nose! You know she is thinking "What is the guy doing to me!"

Sarah gained 30 grams last night, and is now up to 1695. Almost 1700! I honestly cannot believe how far she has come. I had imagined that she would always be so tiny, yet here she is...

As you all know, Sarah hasn't quite got the hang of the bottle yet. Dr. Su decided to adjust Sarah's oxygen support to see if that makes a difference. Now, Sarah's O2 flow is set to 0.2, and generally the O2 percentage stays around 30%. When she starts feeding, that percentage is bumped up to 100%. Sarah has been doing very well with this method, and she took 31 on the bottle yesterday.

Nearly 3 Month old - Photos!

Sarah playing peek-a-boo while Mom is trying to feed her.

Dad snuck in some snuggling on his lunch break today.

Proud Dad wearing his "New Dad" hat.

I think she looks like Dad. I know it is still a bit early to tell, but what are your thoughts?

Thursday morning

Sorry about no post yesterday. I had a court appearance and Erika forgot to post.

Sarah gained and lost ten grams over the past two nights, so she is still 1665 grams. We'd like to see more gain so she can come home. What's going on Sarah!

She had a good night, though. She slept almost the entire night, which is good news for me if she can keep it up when she gets home. :)

She is still working on her bottle feedings, and last night she took 15 mL in twenty minutes, which is pretty good. Can you imagine taking 20 minutes to drink one tablespoon? When you're small, it is a lot!

And I have court again tomorrow morning, so hopefully momma will update you in my absence. Hint hint.

Tuesday morning

Sarah gained 45 grams last night. She is now 1665 grams, or almost 3 pounds, 11 ounces.

She has a little case of diaper rash right now. Poor girl! Her little tushie is all red. Hopefully it will get all better soon, because it is really uncomfortable. The last time I had diaper rash, I couldn't walk for six months! (Because I was still a baby, get it?)

GIFT REGISTRY

Many of you have emailed me or asked me about a baby shower. Due to the fact that I am spending all of my free time with Sarah or preparing for her homecoming, I decided a shower would be a little too stressful, however, as Grandma Carol stated, we will be having a homecoming party/open house/shindig a little after Sarah comes home (probably around the beginning of March- that gives us a little time to get settled with her at home) which the 2 Grandma's will plan. Stay tuned for details...

In the mean time, I have registered at Babies R Us. As you can imagine, I was totally overwhelmed! Sarah being my first baby, I have no idea what is needed! The registry is under our names- REES, Erika or Roger and the due date I listed was 3/1 (don't ask me why). Happy shopping!

Monday morning report

Sarah had a very nice weekend in her open crib. She likes looking around at her surroundings (even though she can't really see anything, she still likes the stimulation from all the movement), and she loves listening to everyone around her. She's enjoying her "Baby Einstein" music very much.

Yesterday, Erika was able to give Sarah her bottle. Sarah had no trouble at all getting started, and ended up taking 20 mL from the bottle. That's better than she does with some of the nurses. Good job, Erika! I'll get to try it next Sunday morning, and hopefully I can do as well as momma.

Sarah's breathing assistance keeps getting lower and lower. She now only requires a flow of 0.3 and her oxygen is around 25%. She's almost there, but is having trouble making the final jump to no assistance at all. She'll get there soon, though.

New Pictures!

Sarah taking a nap earlier this week. She looks so good in PINK!

Saturday night spent in her new open crib and in her bouncer.

One happy baby!

Breaking news

You heard it here first, folks. Sarah Chaya is going to win in New Hampshire! (In about forty years.)

No really, we have BIG news. Its this <-------------------------------> big. Sarah is moving from her isollette into a regular, open, baby tupperware, er, crib, today. That means she's getting that much closer to coming home. In the open crib, she has to maintain her own temperature and won't have any assistance from the heat lamps in the isollette (because she doesn't need it anymore, she's a big girl now!).

Friday morning

Sarah weighed in at 1580 grams last night. She's over 3.5 pounds!

Sarah has been amazing over the last week. Her oxygen requirements are now almost non-existent, and she is consistently on regular air (21% O2). They probably could take her off breathing support, except she does need a little boost when she's bottle or breast feeding...that's right folks, we have begun breast feeding!  We tried Wednesday for the first time and Sarah seemed to like it.  It is very slow process but I think she is catching on.  The second attempt was better than the first and we hope it goes up from there...

Wednesday morning New Year report

We are so happy to say that Sarah will hopefully be home this month! It has been a long time coming. We certainly love every minute that we get to spend with her, but it will be nice when we can finally have her in her own bed at home.

Sarah lost ten grams last night, and is now 1520 grams. Hopefully she'll pass the 3 and 1/2 pound mark this week.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  We hope this year is filled with joy, good health and blessing for everyone.  

Well, everyone, we made it to JANUARY!  We are hoping and praying Sarah is well enough for this to be her coming home month!  The thought of her coming THIS MONTH is so exciting, I can hardly sleep!

The baby girl gained another ounce last night and weighed in at 3 lbs 6 ounces.  Way to go baby girl!  She is still taking 1 bottle every 12 hours and doing well with it.  

Baby's First Bouncer

Ok, the picture is not that good but when we went to see Sarah this morning, she was spending time in her first bouncer- since the nurse couldn't hold her. The nurse had put the bouncer in the isolette and secured it so Sarah could check out her surroundings. And they turned on a CD player with music and Sarah went off to sleep. They even made her a sign which they placed above her head that read "QUEEN SARAH- approach only when summonsed"

Monday Morning Report

Sarah weighed in last night at 3 lbs 5 ounces.  The baby girl is growing so fast and we love it.  She got to restart her bottle feedings yesterday and ate 22 mL's then needed a long nap.  The staff is talking about possibly moving Sarah to an open crib.  She seems bored and unhappy in her isolette, after all she is over 11 weeks old and in need of new surroundings. The NICU staff suggested I make a mobile to keep her entertained also.  That should be fun to make. 

Oh, and it is so hard to tell but in the bottom pictures Sarah is smiling:)

Friday morning

Sarah gained another 15 grams last night, and is now up to 1445 grams. She was, again, a little fussy early on, but settled in around 1 or 2 a.m. and slept most of the night. She was sleeping peacefully when I came in (a little late) this morning, so I decided to let her continue resting, rather the disturbing her so we could snuggle.

And there's a possibility that Nurse Richelle may get reassigned back to Sarah. If you're reading this, Richelle, we'd love to have you back!

Sarah turned 11 weeks old yesterday (happy birthday!) and today she is 37 weeks gestation. That's full term, for those keeping score at home. If she had been born today, she wouldn't technically be considered premature, even though she wouldn't be much bigger than she is now (but would probably be a little bigger). Three more weeks until her due date!

Most of baby Sarah's furniture came yesterday, so dad will get to spend the day tomorrow putting everything together. It's good, too. I needed something to take my mind off the Patriots game, which doesn't air until Saturday night. This should be a good distraction; hopefully the day will fly by.

Thursday morning

I wanted to remind everyone that the birthmark on Sarah's little forehead will go away. People have been asking about it. Don't worry! The nurses tell us that these marks are common and always go away by the time the babies turn two, usually much sooner.

Sarah had a very rough day yesterday, poor little girl. She was doing fine all day until early afternoon, and she started having some minor troubles breathing. Dr. Banks ordered an x-ray, which showed that Sarah had a little cloudiness in one of her lungs. This is VERY COMMON among preemies, so please, stop worrying before you start. When her little tummy gets full, some of the milk comes back up and goes into the lungs. They have started an IV to continue to give her nutrition, and stopped feeding her through the tube. But, she still gained 20 grams last night, and is up to 1430 grams. They also stopped bottle-feeding her, but she may start nippling again today or tomorrow, if everything goes well.

Sarah has switched back from the nasal cannula to the vapotherm machine, but it should be very temporary. She should be off the vapotherm within a day or so. She is also on some antibiotics just to be safe.

After her rough day yesterday, Sarah had a great night, with no alarms, bradys, or apnias. She was a little fuzzy early on, but settled down and slept peacefully from about 1 a.m. on. Her feedings resumed through the feeding tube at 10 mL at 2 a.m., which Sarah was happy to accept.

Nurse Richelle (not Rochelle as I previously misspelled it) has been assigned as the primary nurse on another tiny baby, which means she won't get Sarah anymore. That makes Sarah sad, because Richelle took such good care of Sarah when she had her broken leg. But the other baby needs Richelle's expertise more than Sarah does, which, in the grand scheme, is a good thing!

Wednesday morning

Sarah maintained her weight last night at 1410 grams. I can only hope that I maintained my weight after last night's dinner!

Big news over the weekend, Sarah is now taking a full ounce over one hour at each feeding. It seems like so much milk, when she started at just one or two mL at a time. But it's just two tablespoons!

Sarah was wide awake this morning when I got in, and she stayed awake most of the time I was holding her. After about twenty minutes she started to get fussy, and she was in need of a diaper change. They keep saying that she's going to be so easy to potty train, but who do I complain to if she isn't?

Another inspiring story (just in time for Christmas!)

From Grandma, not from Castine:

Erika gave me permission to share this story. My dear friend, Danielle, wrote about her daughter, Erryn, and new granddaughter, in her Christmas letter. It is amazingly similar to Sarah's story. I have been trying to say how I feel since Sarah was born, but have never found the words. Danielle is so poetic and eloquent in her writing. I am sharing her story with everyone involved in Sarah's life in an effort to say how deeply moved I am, not just by Sarah, but especially by Roger and Erika, and everyone caring (and praying) for them.

These are parts of Danielle's note:
On September 11th, at 28 weeks, 2 days, Erryn had a beautiful baby girl.. very small (19 ounces, 11 3/4 inch). There have been few moments of elation quite like hers. And a new journey began. Miss Winnifred Mae was named for her two grandmothers, and nicknamed Mini Winnie. For 87 days, my darling girl sat with her, reading to her, taking notes, reading and tabbing her huge book on Preemies. I would sit, knit and watch, all the time wondering about the outcome. Winnie is a fighter. Never has so large a persona been asked to inhabit such a small suit. But she did. Through pneumonia, and having a fragile leg broken, heart rate drops, apnea and transfusions, Winnie perservered. She was the darling of the NICU with nurses battling to care for her, and equally loving her ever-vigilant mother. This story is one of the tireless mother who stands bedside with a sick child and wills them to live. During the roughest of times I would watch Erryn stroke the tiny head of her daughter and say, "Be strong, Winnie, it's not forever, it's just for now." .... Miracles do happen.

"A child was born; a child lived and will thrive, a simple story. But, for all of us, it was filled with angels and heroic gestures so small as to nearly be missed except with the vision of a waiting heart. There is no love greater than that of a mother; a hero quite as grand as a doctor and a nurse; a father whose love builds a support. And I think it sounds like the first Christmas... at least for me." Danielle

And may I say, my feelings exactly! Thank you for taking a moment to allow me to say how deeply moved I am by Erika and Roger's courage and strength, for the flawless symphony of care performed by the NICU staff, and for the unending prayers of family and friends.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and Happy New Year to all!

Grandma Carol

Monday Morning Report

Well, Sarah had a very busy weekend. She weighed in last night at 1380 grams, nearly 3 lbs 1 ounce! Whatever it is they they are putting in her milk to add calories, it's working! I finally felt well enough (and comfortable that I wouldn't give my cold to anyone else) on Saturday. It had been 5 days since I had seen my sweet baby girl and she was a completely different baby. She was so big, I hardly recognized her! I couldn't put her down all weekend. And she is getting so big that we are much more comfortable handling her alone, which is a good thing cuz I think she is gonna be home in no time. Sarah is up to taking 2 bottles a day and while not yet eating the entire amount in the bottle, she is still gaining good suck/swallow/breathe skills.

We want to wish everyone out there who isn't Jewish, (which is many) a Merry Christmas.

Friday morning

Here's our little baby sleeping in her first onesie! Sure, she is figuratively swimming in it, but still...

Sarah gained a whopping 75 grams last night! Erika said, "that can't be right, that's too much!" Sure enough, Sarah had a big 40 gram poop shortly after being weighed. Nurse Shelly weighed Sarah again, and Sarah had lost 30 grams or so. She now weighs 2 pounds, 12 ounces. Big girl!

Happy 36 weeks gestation, too! You're doing so well!

Happy 10 Week Birthday!

Sarah really has filled out and she looks almost normal-sized next to Nurse Rochelle, who is one of Sarah's regular night nurses.

Sarah lost a little weight last night, but it was another big day yesterday. She was having a little poop trouble, so Nurse Heidi gave her something to help, and Sarah had some explosions over night for Nurse Shelly. Good fun!

Sarah's feedings have increased to 28 mL, and the time of each feeding has decreased to an hour and a half. So, she taking more food over less time, which means she has a greater opportunity to digest and rest between feedings. And that's a good thing.

And happy birthday, girl! You're ten weeks old today!

Wednesday morning

Well, despite all the goings-on yesterday, Sarah still managed to put on a little weight. Only 5 grams, but we'll take it.

This morning Sarah was all bundled up for me just as I walked in the NICU and Nurse Rochelle handed her right to me. She slept the entire time I held her (Sarah, not Rochelle), and didn't make a peep.

And apparently someone forgot to tell Nurse Rochelle and Nurse Arlene about Sarah's website, and the two of them couldn't get enough of it. Even though they get to see Sarah every day. It's funny how everyone reading the blog wants to visit Sarah, and the nurses that get to see her regularly want even more of her from the blog!

Momma is still sick, unfortunately. Hopefully she'll get better in time to visit Sarah this weekend. Daddy is doing his best to fight off the germs.

One of Sarah's busiest days, lunch report

So, baby Sarah has no shortage of news today:

• She graduated from an oral feeding tube to a nasal feeding tube. This makes it easier to nipple feed her with the bottle because the oral tube always got in the way. Also, she finally has nothing in her mouth and can freely explore it with her little fingers!

• She graduated to big(ger) diapers. I noticed this morning that her diaper was a little tight, and apparently the nurse noticed it, too.
  


• She is no longer on the vapotherm breathing apparatus. She's just using the nasal canula (sp?) with low-flo support. This is HUGE! It is the last, least support that she'll need for breathing. If she has to, she could come home with this. (But we hope she won't need any support, right girl?)

• Her feedings are now up to 26 mL. At lunch today she took 14 mL in the bottle and the rest was fed through her nasal tube. I think she's still only taking the bottle once a day, but that will steadily increase as she gets more used to the whole suck, swallow, breathe exercise.

• Daddy got to hold Sarah at lunch today. I don't usually do that due to time constraints, but the physical therapist (Astri) already had Sarah out, and basically did a nice little hand-off, which I couldn't say no to.

• And, because momma can't see Sarah, we'll post a bunch of pictures tonight, for her benefit and for everyone else out there supporting little Sarah.

Tuesday morning

Sarah was so fussy this morning! She was crying when I came in and just wouldn't stop. So I held her, and she calmed down a little, but started crying again after 15-20 minutes. Poor baby! We checked the diaper and no poo-poo, so it's a mystery. (She had just had a change-the-bedding-sized poop at 0500.)

Sarah gained 35 grams last night, and is now 1215 grams. Over 1200, way to go! Almost 2 lbs. 11 oz.!

And Sarah wants to wish a happy birthday to Grandma Rees, who turns ____ today. Happy ____ Birthday, grandma!

Monday morning report

Sarah weekend was a little nicer that her last two weekends. Having the cast on held her back, and now that it is off, she needs much less support. She stays happy with much less oxygen, and hopefully soon she will be able to breathe all by herself.

After several days of good weight gains, Sarah lost ten grams last night. Her weight is now 1180 grams, or 2 pounds 9.5 ounces. She's so big!

A little bad news - momma is sick and can't go see baby Sarah! We don't want to risk bringing anything into the NICU to get Sarah, or any of the other littles ones, sick. I'm still feeling fine and will be making my usual trips to see Sarah, and I'll be taking over Mom's evening holding duties. Fine with me! Get well soon, honey, and don't get me sick, too!

Weekend Update

Sarah had her first bottle feeding on Friday! She ate 16 of 24 cc's of milk on her very first try.
Then today Roger and I went to watch her bottle feeding for the second time. She did almost as well eating 12 of 24, but we attribute it to her being tired. Sarah was wide awake from 7-9am, and fell asleep right when it was time to come out to be fed. Here are some pictures of the physical therapist feeding her today. For now she will be getting one bottle a day to be fed by the medical staff since preemies are a little difficult to feed. The look on her face when she actually tastes the milk is priceless! Thanks for the new hat Grandma!

Oh and Sarah weighed in at 1190 grams or 2 lbs 10 ounces last night. Way to go Sarah!