Snow, Snow, Snow!!!

Christmas

We are so thankful to the Lord that we were all able to be together to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Fun at Home

Anna Joy's first bath at home!

Look how BIG I am! When we left the hospital Anna Joy was 6 lbs 5oz.

Cozy in my new outfit!

We had put Chad in the pack-in-play last night and when I went to check on him...I found Heather inside as well!


We are starting to adjust to Anna being home. There is a lot that needs to be done for her around the clock and we are thankful for my parents help with some of the day/night shifts! We also receive care from St. Luke's hospital. There are several nurses who come to our home and help with Anna's cares as well. We have already received two visits since she has been home. At this time Anna is only suppose to leave our home to visit her pediatrician. We are so thankful for all the support for our little one! Lord willing, she will continue to gain weight and learn all that she needs to developmentally over the next year.
I am in such awe of the Lord's goodness to us; we couldn't be more thankful.

Home

First night in her crib!

Noah and I are so thankful for the apnea monitor...it keeps us sane!

Sisters!
Heather was so nervous holding Anna...she thought for sure the alarm would sound!

This is the first time my Dad had ever held Anna Joy! He was always watching the kids, so he didn't have very many opportunities to hold her.

Here She Comes!

Day 83...Anna's Home!!!

Here is Daddy letting Anna know that she gets to come home today!

Daddy successfully got little Anna Joy to burp!

Dr. Zieba...we cannot thank him enough! The NICU staff is amazing and we will miss visiting with everyone everyday.

Heather and Chad were so excited to see their baby sister!

The "Eve" of Homecoming?

Noah's Dad came to visit us for a couple of days. The kids were very excited to see him and we sure enjoyed his visit.

Anna looks so incredibly good, and we are beyond grateful for her progress. The plan is for her to come home tomorrow! Praise God! We will certainly post again when Anna joins her brother and sister at home. Both Chad and Heather are excited; Heather even made sure she got special pajamas so she can match Anna for Anna's first night home. So precious!

On the Homestretch?

Last week we "roomed in" with Anna, as the doctors call it, a couple nights to prepare for caring for her at home. She was still hooked up to her monitors, but we were with her in a separate room and were responsible for all of her caretaking... giving her medicine, feeding her, cleaning the breast pump stuff, logging intake volumes, reporting breathing spells, changing diapers, etc.). We didn't get much sleep - especially Angie (4 hrs total over about a 2-day period) - but we wanted to make sure we could take care of her for 2 days since eventually it will be much longer than that!! After the second night, the doctor came in and told us we should both go home and get some sleep, which we did. Our bed felt like a piece of heaven.

Today was the day we anticipated bringing Anna home, based on the doctors' continual assessment of her progress. Angie and I have been concerned about her periodic breathing spells (where she holds her breath and her heart rate and oxygen levels go down), and if at home she would be receiving an apnea monitor, but based on Anna's clinical symptoms which were all discussed YESTERDAY with the doctors, there was not a medical necessity to have one. Anna has had periodic breathing, but no documented "apnea" spells in the last couple weeks. We looked into getting a monitor on our own, and found out we would still need a doctor's order to get it (regardless of self pay vs. insurance pay). The idea of going home without a monitor felt like flying blind. We were praying about what to do, and... God answered our prayer very specifically: OVERNIGHT, Anna had not one, but two, apnea spells! Normally, this would obviously not be a good thing, since it demonstrates she still has a ways to go; but at this point, the more information the better. So TODAY, the apnea monitor went from "no clinical support to order one" to a requirement. That was an answer to prayer - and much better than our desire to just somehow get a monitor. Anna's spells gave everyone a bigger window into how she is really doing. We know that God is in charge of her little body, and we are thankful He continues to protect and sustain her.

So for this week, Anna will be getting caffeine again to help with her breathing, and the doctors will monitor her progress over 3-5 days expecting the spells to diminish back out of the apnea category. She'll also have one more blood panel to make sure she is making and maintaining her red blood cells. Lord willing, if she "passes" both of these tests, and barring any unexpected events; we would be bringing her home sometime either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday! This idea of going home was always a theoretical future event - one that we neer spent much time thinking about, since it would be getting so far ahead of ourselves - and now it is coming upon us.

We praise God for His faithfulness. And we want to live out what Asaph proclaims in Psalm 73: "For me, it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works."

Here's Anna getting her caffeine.

Anna Making Strides

Anna enjoys eating, and has grown more and more comfortable with "life" over the last 12 days.
Grandma holding time!

Grandma holding time!

Not sure how so much time could have passed since our last update... maybe it's the upside-down schedule that we've moved into over the last two weeks. Angie has, more or less, moved into the NICU including spending nights, which has been a great blessing for Anna's development. Angie's round-the-clock presence gives Anna the opportunity to try to breastfeed at any feeding time where she is alert enough and strong enough to try (you never know when that will happen, so it's invaluable for Angie to be there when it does!).

Anna is up to full feeding volumes (52 ml per feeding), and she has had a handful of successful nursing times right from Mommy. She has worked on her skill of sucking, swallowing, and breathing; and we are so grateful that she desires to eat! (Because of her NEC, the doctors had been concerned that she wouldn't want to eat - which takes a long time to try to reverse.) Over the last 12 days, Anna has gained about 5 ounces just on Mommy's milk! Thank you, God, that Anna can digest and absorb the nutrients from Angie's milk! She is now 5 lbs. 11 ounces.

The "routine" has pushed us to our limits in so many ways, and there have definitely been times where we have tried to make it work in our own strength, which has led to exhaustion and frustration. We again look to God to for the strength and endurance not just to make it through, but to trust Him and rely on Him for all things, and rejoice! We want to remember always all that God has done, and all the ways He has worked. This is why so many altars were built by the Israelites - to create a unmistakable physical reminder of the goodness of the Lord. He is so good!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Day 60 in the NICU

Anna's Report Card

1. She has gone from 845 grams (1 lb 13oz) to 2,435 grams (5 lbs 6 oz)
2. Her length was 14 inches when she was born and now she is almost 18 inches long!
3. She is now in Newborn diapers!
4. She is drinking 40ml of milk per feeding (8 tsp)
5. We have begun some recreational breast feeding...
6. She has had her first bath in a bath tub!
7. Tomorrow she will get her PICC line out! No more needles stuck in our little one! She can now have both her arms free from hoses/wires!

Overall Anna appears to have recovered from her NEC issue fairly well. We are praying that breast feeding will start happening here soon. Today she tried to breast feed, but then forgot to breathe and turned blue...required oxygen...and then was fine. Scary moment for Mom! Please pray that she can remember to suck, swallow, and breathe! Once she conquers this...it will make her one step closer to coming home!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all enjoy being with friends and family this year. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year! What an awesome faithful God we serve!

GROWING!

I am now over 5 pounds!

I was in an Isolette bed for many weeks...thank you Linda O'Hara for my beautiful quilt! I love to look at all the pretty dolls. The nursing staff loves my quilt as well!

Today they put me in my own bed! Now Mommy and Daddy can pick me up and hold me whenever they want to!

I love my Daddy!

Progressing and... Eating Again!

Thank you all for your prayers for Anna Joy! Yesterday, they started her feeds again. They started with just 5 ml (~1 tsp.) per feeding, at intervals of three hours. We (and all the doctors and nurses) were very anxious to see how she would do because she had been throwing up a lot in the few days prior to her feeds starting again. Three hours after each feed, they draw out any residual liquid from her tummy through her feeding tube to analyze how effective her digestion is and to see whether there are any potential problems. We praise God that her residuals have been very minimal, and the color of her tummy liquid has been "good!" Today they advanced to 10 ml per feed and continue to monitor her residuals. The plan is to advance her feedings slowly until they reach a "full" feed amount of 45 ml (two weeks ago she was receiving feeds of 30 ml before they were discontinued). We're praying God would give extra go-power to Anna's tummy and intestines so that she can again reach a point where all her nutrition is received through the tube to her tummy (which later, will make nursing possible!). Thank you again so much for praying!!

Time with Daddy

Happy in Daddy's arms after a nice warm bath!

Anna Joy will be reintroduced to breast milk this Wednesday. Please pray with us that her intestines will be able to digest what they give her. Her intestines have been at rest for a little over 12 days, so we are praying that they will accept food again. She has been showing lots of signs that she is HUNGRY! So hopefully we can satisfy her here soon! :)