Almost 4 Months Old

Elizabeth is now almost 4 months old, on July 7th, on the 5th she gets her 4 month shots. She is getting so huge, she has rolled over but she has only done it twice, and usually can't figure out how to do it. To me she acts like a 2 month old, she will follow you or objects with her eyes now. I think she's beginning to recognize people, like me and her dad. Preemie clothes don't fit her at all anymore. She's almost long enough for her nb sleepers. She is beginning to stay awake more during the day, and sleep more at night. The doctors make me mad though because they treat her differently than anyother baby or preemie for that matter...they are making us keep the oxygen at her bedside only because she has scarring on her lungs, she's been off of oxygen since May 16th and has been great off of it. They are making us have all these people come to our house to check her out only because of her "incident", I mean if there's something wrong with her because of the lack of oxygen then we won't know until she begins to sit up, crawl, walk or talk ya know..shes only 4 months old..and I don't want her to have therapy done if she doesn't need it. Personally if she needs some sort of therapy down the road then yes I'll have her do it, but not at almost 4 months old or a month old gestationally..its pointless right now in my opinion.

Elizabeth's Doctor Appointment

We took Elizabeth to the doctor today and she now weighs 8 lbs 0.5 oz and she is now 21 inches long.She doing good, we still have to keep oxygen here with us in case she needs it. She's still on her higher calorie formula. On her next doctor appointment she will have to get her 4 month immunization shots. And within the next few months she'll probably begin teething..yippee...>.<

Thoughts

Ok I understand why Elizabeth was born so early, 13 weeks early to be exact but...I'm still playing the "what if game" and I know I shouldn't but I just think what it would of been like for my baby girl to have been born in around her due date, getting to see her the second she was born and not 2 hours + after wards. Not ever to have stepped foot inside of NICU, not ever of seen her on the vent, or have seen her with a feeding tube. And I wonder if Elizabeth would of been full term would she of still gotten the piece of mucus stuck in her trachea and if she did what would of happened?? I blame myself for her coming early and I know that we did everything in our power to stop her from coming and no luck. But I still wonder if I would of taken care of myself when I was pregnant, would she still have come early? I feel sad that she's had to go through all the shit she has already in her short life. This little girl has been on the vent (respirator) twice, she has had 6 full blood transfusions in a 2 time period--and I was to blame for that one because Elizabeth's blood type is B- and I'm O-. And there is this thing called the "A-B-O Factor" Which means if the mom is O blood type and baby is either A or B, then mommy creates an antigen against baby and destroys her red blood cells. But I'm sure its worn off by now, it supposed to anyway. Anyway Elizabeth has had more IVs than any little baby should of, been poked and prodded so many times. She was born at 2 lbs 7 oz and the smallest she ever got was 2 lbs 3 oz, I'm so glad that she didn't hit the 1 lb range, that was one of my fears. And if we try and have another kid in 2+ yrs, will they be preemies too? And there's a chance that it could be multiples which scares me because they run on my side of my family. I mean cause the second we have another preemie, I'm getting my tubes tied so there would be no chance of having to see NICU again. I don't know I think about crap like this a lot, I know I should just let it go but...

New Update

Elizabeth went to see the doctor today and she weighs in at a whopping 7 lbs 3.5 oz and she is 20 inches long. So in a two week period, she gained one full pound!! ♥ She is now the size of a regular newborn!!!♥ And she has a cold so her doctor tested her for influenza and RSV and luckily both came back negative. So its simply just a cold. But we have to take her back to the doctor again tomorrow, just so he can check her out. But other than that, she's doing well!

Elizabeth & Cierra

♥ Elizabeth and Cierra ♥


You would never believe that these two are were born only 4 days apart! The only diff was that Cierra was only 2 weeks early and Elizabeth was 3 months early. Cierra weighs 14 lbs while Elizabeth weighs 6. It's amazing to see how staying inside for 3 more months how much difference it makes! We always say that it was because of Cierra that Elizabeth was born, Elizabeth got jealous of me holding Cierra, so she decided to come out so she could be held too I guess?

Dr. Appointment

Elizabeth had a dr app. today, Here weight is now::8 Lbs 12 oz and 21.5 Inches long♥The doctor said that she is teething, which already figured that, she has a bump on the top left side of her mouth and a bunch on the bottom left. So we're having to give her tylenol and orajel for the pain. And on top of that, she got her her 4 month immunizations, so her legs are sore and her mouth is sore. Finally they're not even checking her oxygen stats when she goes there. She is on floride drops too.

Elizabeth's New Pics

Dr. Appt was Friday

She now weighs 6 lbs 3.5 oz and is 19.5 inches long. She is going to be full term on June 5th, and she's getting close to a normal newborn weight. She's getting close to tripling her birth weight too. She rolled over from her back to her tummy all by herself yesterday!! She's been able to lift her head up and move it from side to side since she was a month old. The dr gave her the clear "again" to come off oxygen but she hasn't been on it for about 3 wks anyway. If she lays on her tummy, if you put your hand on her feet, like so she has something to push up against, she'll scoot across the floor. She almost can take 600 mls a days now. We're weining her onto "soothie" bottles too so that she can have a bigger amount of milk if she wants it.

3 Months Old on June 7th & Full-Term on June 5th

It's crazy to think that Elizabeth is almost 3 months old and I can't believe that we will have been out of NICU for a whole month on June 2nd. It seems like she just bearly came home yesterday. She's getting so big too. Everyone says oh look how small she is and I just can't see that, I guess thats because she started out so small and now compared to what she was shes huge!!!!!!

Elizabeth's Slideshow

Alright so I made this slide show about Elizabeth practically from day one until now. It's about 10 min long or so, so if you got the time watch it please...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Another Milestone

Yesterday Elizabeth was cleared from her doc off of oxygen!! Today is her first full day without it. She came off of it, at about 11 am yesterday went back on for an hr for one feeding, and then went back on during the night. We aren't using the oximeter except for maybe at night. But she is doing great. I can't believe how well she is doing and has been doing, especially since she's not even full term yet (37 wks).

She's beginning to act more like a newborn now. She can lift her head, and turn it from side to side. She can almost turn over but she just can't figure out how to move her arm out from underneath her. When we lay her on her belly, she tries to get her knees under her, she's already wanting to crawl...Last week she weighed 5 lbs 12.5 oz, and she is 19 inches long. So pretty soon she'll be 3 lbs up from her birth weight and she is 4 inches up from her birth length. But I'm so happy she's off of o2, makes is easier to drag her around the house now. :)

Home Sweet Home

Elizabeth was discharged from University of Utah hospital on May 2 2006 at 5 pm. She stayed a total of 56 days or 8 weeks in the hospital. She was sent home on oxygen, 100%, but on 1/16th of a liter. She is on no meds. She is doing good on her feedings. She did good on the 3 hr ride home, slept most of the way. We have several companies that is monitoring her because she went 23 min without oxygen. So far no side effects from that. I am just so happy to be out of NICU, even though we do miss our primary RNs. But its nice to be home with our baby girl.

Going into a Crib Tonight (or tomorrow)

I am so excited because Elizabeth is getting into an open crib tonight or tomorrow whenever another baby goes home today. She now weights a whopping 4 lbs and 4 oz! Almost up 2 lbs from her birth weight. She is 17 inches long. She was six weeks old on tuesday. She is wearing clothes now and is swaddled in a blanket..they do that in order to get them ready to go out of the isolet. She is taking more bottles everyday..up to 2 per shift and maybe a third. Oxygen is about 21% - 25%. She absolutely hates getting her temp taken and her diaper changed. She loves her binkie! I can't wait until she gets to come home!

4 Pounds

Elizabeth is now 33 wks gestationally...6 weeks tomorrow. She weighs 4 lbs 0.5 oz and is 17 inches long. Since she finally made it to the 4 lb mark she can now go into a open crib so over the next couple of days...the nurses will lower her isolet temp gradually and begin the dress her. She also began to bottle feed on the 11th and so far she has taken the full feeds of 3 of her bottles. Her oxygen sits from about 21-25 and 21 is room air. She just needs to stay there and have good oxygen stats. I can not wait to get her home...

Bunny Pictures

Bunny pictures of Elizabeth

Thanks U of U Hospital

Transfusion

We just found out that Elizabeth has to get a blood transfusion because her red blood cell count was 19 when it was supposed to be 40. So she's pretty sick, but the nurses also think that when she gets her count back up then her a's and b's will also get better. Because that can cause having a's and b's. So around midnight she'll probably get the blood. And in another 8 hrs she'll get another. And we'll see how she does. And also in the morning she has to get a lab anyway to check to see if her liver is functioning. Mainly because she has been on the photo lights so much...much more than normal. But they can give her a med for that if needed its actually a med for seizures which is kinda weird.

4 weeks old---tomorrow

It is crazy to think that elizabeth is going to be 4 weeks old tomorrow. And then a month old on the 7th. I can't believe how much time has passed...it doesn't seem that its been that long since she was born. And I can't believe that we've been in slc for almost a month! Elizabeth is doing well...she got moved out of room 2 which is the very low birth weight area and moved into room 7...its more open and its for the better babies. Elizabeth is still having a few As & Bs which is apnea and bradycardia...when she forgets to breath and so her heartrate decreases dramatically. She already had a grade 2 since I've been here. Its just where they have to stimulate her a bit to breathe. Also the stupid monitor thing is very sensitive to movement. Elizabeth is a wiggler. Shes is on 24 mls of breast milk every 3 hrs but since she is on continuous feeds it equals to 8.5 mls every hour. They put her back on photo therapy lights again today. Because her bili ruben level got high enough. (its pretty much just jaundice) so we just have to wait until her liver kicks in and takes over. Shes a little bit anemic now but it wouldn't do any good to transfuse her because at 6 weeks her bone marrow will start making red blood cells and transfusing her would only set her back that much more. Still on nasal canula which is normal oxygen tube that fits into the nostrils siting about 30 percent oxygen on that. Yesterday she broke through the 3 pound mark! She is now 1371 grams or 3 lbs 0.5 ounces. And she got measured yesterday and she is 17 inches long. Only 2 more months (hopefully) of nbicu and she gets to come home. I can't wait!

3 weeks tomorrow

It's crazy to think that Elizabeth is 3 weeks old tomorrow...it seems like she was born just yesterday. I can't wait until she gets to come home :D Elizabeth is doing good...not fantastic but good...she's having troubles tolerating her feedings...she's on 23 mls of breast milk continuously on a pump...so hopefully that will help her be able to digest it easier. And they gave her 2 medications for acid reflux...hopefully that will help too. She lost 10 grams last night, I'm sure it's because she's been spiting up so much. And they took her off of the nasal canula and onto a headbox...which is just a box that goes over her head (thus the name) and she gets oxygen through that. It just helps her get a break from the canula and it lets her nostrils heal up a bit. Anyway I gotta go see my baby girl...talk to ya later.


Pics are soon to come I finally got access to a computer that doesn't only have internet..yay...

16 Days Old

Elizabeth is now 16 days old...last night she weighed 3 lbs but that weighed could be inaccurate because they changed her isolet yesterday. And on Sunday she was 15 1/4 inches long. She's doing good--shes off of the respirator and off of cpap--which was bubbly water that helped keep her lungs open. She just onto regular nasal tube that gives her oxygen it's called a nasal canula. She's eating alot (of course through a feeding tube) she's up to 22 mls every 3 hrs. They took her off of humidity and she has been able to maintain her body temperature and keep up her body weight so far. Shes up to the normal preemie diapers now. Which is huge on her but the littlest ones were getting tight on her.

Elizabeth Kae is here

Yes my little girl is here. She was born March 7, 2006 at 10:17 am. And yes her due date wasn't until June 5--you do the math. Right now we are staying here in SLC at the Ronald McDonald house..since my little girl is at the NBICU unit at University of Utah hospital. She weighed 2 lbs 7 oz and was 15 inches long when she was born. Pretty much I went into labor very unexpectedly...one minute we're getting ready to eat dinner...the next we're being life flighted to Salt Lake. That was on Sunday...March 5th...I was on magnesium sulfate right up until my water broke at 8:45 am on the 7th...luckily we got 37 1/2 hours of the steriod shot that develops her lungs faster into her. Right now, she is doing very good. She is on a respirator right now because she had an incident with her on Saturday morning (around 2 am) and almost lost her. They are beginning to wein her off of that right now. She's not eating right now...they are most likely going to start her back on the feedings tomorrow. She's under phototherapy lights right now but that isn't uncommon...shes under that for jaundice. Her blood pressure is good and has been. We're expecting to be discharged from U of U around her due date...so we have a little bit before then. I doubt I'll be on here very often since we don't have good access to a computer...except at the hospital. I doubt I'll be able to put any pictures of her on here until we are able to go home. Anyway I'll see everyone in a while....

26 weeks

~26 weeks~

Sunday started off my 26th week of Pregnancy~also my last week in the second tri. So here are some pictures of my Big Belly!

Here is her closet I hope she likes pink!

25 weeks 1 day

Yesterday started off week 25 for me. And my little girl has the nastiest kick ever! I'm afraid what she'll be like when she hits the terrible 2's, if she gets this cranky already. LOL She's very smart too already if she kicks me hard enough in one spot and it makes me jump, then she realizes what makes me move so she can lay in the spot she wants, so she'll keep doing it again and again.

24 weeks 1 day

♥ It's crazy to think that I'm already 24 weeks--I remember thinking back when I just found out that I was pregnant how far away 24 weeks felt--and now it's here ♥