Adventure Girls and Ferd

I forgot I had this blog. Amazing how life gets moving and things have a way of falling off the radar.  B. is 7. 7 years old. She is a blessing and I am grateful to be her mommy. These past few years have had their ups and downs but every day I wake up and think how lucky I am (after I curse about waking up so early and how my back aches).  This pandemic has thrown our lives into turmoil but we have been lucky. T. and I have our jobs. B. lived with my parents for 2.5 months during the beginning of all this craziness. With my increased risk from working at the hospital we felt it best, even though it was difficult, to have her stay with my parents. We could best limit her and their risk that way. We would talk on the phone daily and see each other for a socially distant visit weekly. It was painful when one of us, and sometimes even B., had to remind the other person of the 6 ft rule. Our Easter egg hunt consisted of B. lobbing some plastic eggs my way so we would all have simi...

Wow. It has been more than 2 years since my last update. I am pretty sure I have no one reading this blog but in case you do I am happy to report B is doing wonderfully.  She is now 2.5 yo, 23.5lbs, walking, talking, smiling, laughing, chortling, and fake coughing. She is a true blessing and not a day goes by that I don't thank all the powers that be for having her in my life. Joy has been the theme for the past 2 Christmas cards and it is so fitting-she truly is a joy. B is now attending pre-school 3 mornings a week. Today when I dropped her off at school she told me, "No cry, happy." It makes me so happy to know that she is enjoying her time at pre-school. 

Bath and weight night update: B now weighs 1545g or 3lb 6.5oz. B has been doing well with her weight gain and feeds. This week her feeding schedule has progressed rapidly. On Wednesday they increased her to breast feeds 3 times a day. On Thursday they increased it to 4 times. And then yesterday they increased it to all oral feeds (breast or bottle) as long as she can tolerate it. If she is tired then the feeding tube is still available as well. So far she's been a champ. We did 6 out of 8 feeds yesterday by mouth. And have done 5 out of 7 today. We're hoping to breast feed exclusively but she is still little and tires easily so yesterday I gave her one feeding by bottle. My first time bottle feeding her! And today T got to bottle feed her! Before she can come home she has to be able to take all feeds by mouth so if a bottle feed here and there helps get her home quicker it is ok with me! Her oxygen settings are about the same and will most likely stay that way for the week...

I am grateful to say that B continues to do well. She now weighs 1250g or 2lb 12oz! She is now more than twice her weight at birth. She is also 14 1/4 inches long. She has graduated from her itty bitty preemie diapers to regular preemie diapers. With her weight gain she is now up to 17ml/ 2 hours. She is getting near the point where she will switch to feedings every 3 hours. We are hoping that we might begin some nursing next week. She would still be fed primarily through her nasal gavage but we would have a few sessions of nursing. She's been working her binky like pro so I am hopeful that we will have success. Auntie Sara and family came for a visit today and got to help out with bath time. And by help out I mean take lots of pictures of our little bathing beauty. It is amazing to watch how B changes every day. Last night T and I were looking through some of our older pictures and her changes, even in the the past 2 weeks, are remarkable. Tomorrow she will be 9 weeks old! ...

Today was a big day for...Bammy and Pop Pop. They got to hold B for the first time. It was a bit emotional but B didn't seem to mind at all. B had her first eye exam today. Premature babies have an increased risk of developing an eye disease called Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). ROP can vary in severity and is classified in stages from 1 to 4 with 4 being the worst. Many infants born weighing less than 3lb 5oz will develop some form of ROP. Approximately 80% of babies who develop ROP get mild disease (stages 1 and 2) which will heal completely within the first year of life. Today's exam showed that B does have Stage 1. She will have another exam next week. Tomorrow is bath and weight night. Her doctors have increased her feedings to 15ml/ 2 hours but have cut back on the fortifier to try to slow down the weight gain. It is good that she is gaining weight but she needs to do it at an appropriate pace.

Bis now 8 weeks 1 day old. Tonight was weight night and Bis now 1100g or 1lb 7oz! She has gained more than 1 pound since birth. Her nurses have indicated that we might be able to start nursing next week! Joy! It is nice to know that we will be able to do some "normal" mother-baby bonding. Today was also the first time in over two weeks that T got to do kangaroo care. I think he enjoyed it! Our nurses also informed us that we can now take B out of her isolette more than once a day and kangaroo more than once a day. Yay!

B got her Gram-my award today! The NICU gives this to babies when they reach 1000g. She weighed in tonight at 1035g or 2lb 4oz.