24 hours down

157,656 hours to go.

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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!

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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