long overdue update....

Whew, what a whirlwind! Charlotte spent 24 days in the NICU before she joined her family at home on January 8th. We were sooo happy to have her home with us! After two months of weight gain issues at home, and frustrations trying to get her to nurse (using every tool known to man, I think, including the SNS nursing supplementer), I finally admitted defeat. I still pump for her, and she gets about 1/3 of her milk from me. The rest is high calorie preemie formula. She is now doing wonderfully, and weighs 9.5 lbs at 3 months old.

She came home from the NICU on an apnea monitor, due to periodic heartrate decelerations and prilosec for her relux (common to preemies). She also gets a monthly shot of Synagis, which provides preemies with some protection from RSV (respiratory Syncatal Virus) which is very prevalent this time of year, and would likely end her back up in the hospital. We've cocooned her at home since her hospital discharge anyways, not wanting to expose her to germs :)

The dynamic duo make GREAT big sisters and adore little Charlotte. She's a pretty easy going baby, which is a relief as G was a SUPER high needs baby who never slept. CHarlotte sleeps great at night, and is usually a very happy baby. I'm very sad to have to be returning to work on Thursday of this week. Big sister M will be taking care of her while I'm at work, but I've never worked when I've had a baby this small, and it's still very hard for me.

Baby Charlotte

Is still in the NICU. Today is day 11. She is now off all breathing assistance, which is fantastic! However, she still has high bilirubin levels that have not budged for the past 6 days. Some initial issues with her digesting her food also set her back. Although resolved, she is still getting the majority of her food via NG tube (tube that runs from her nose to her belly), although she is starting to nurse a little, and take about 1 feeding per day via the haberman feeder (similar to a bottle). Her feedings are being increased every day, as she is still loosing weight. Mom is pumping for her, but is only providing about 1/2 of the breastmilk that she needs per day, unfortunately. It's very hard to bring in a full supply of milk via pump only.

Praying each day that she will be home soon.

New baby sister...

Charlotte Jean was born via emergency c-section on December 17th at 5:08pm, 5 weeks early due to a placental abruption. Charlotte is in NICU, but is off the ventilator and on CPAP for breathing assistance. Momma required multiple blood transfusions but is now feeling much better, although hemoglobin is still quite low.

I had had a bad fall during a snowstorm onto my belly the week prior. They admitted me to labor and delivery for 24 hrs and monitored me - all looked well. Had increasing pain and small amount of spotting on an off for the next week. Dr's office sent me back to L&D to be monitored again. 24 hrs of monitoring looked great, but pain still present. Dr's decided to do an u/s, although placental abruptions are "rarely" picked up in an u/s. By the time they wheeled me back from u/s to my room, there were two nurses waiting to prep me for an emergency c-section. Radiologist had already phoned and talked to my ob about what they had seen. I barely had a minute to get a call off to Wood to tell him to get to the hospital pronto - with or without him, they were going to deliver the baby. Dr told me I could have an epidural, but Anethesiologist said no way, too risky with the placenta abrupting, and I'd have to have a general. There were 4 people in my room, all simultaneously prepping me for surgery. Wood showed up at the last minute, and prayed with me. Within 15 minutes, I was in the OR, was put under. Woke up in recovery, baby had went straight to NICU.

I had lost a lot of blood, and my hemoglobin and platelets had fallen in the week since the fall anyways. Blood was drawn and it was decided that I needed multiple blood transfusions the next day. Until I got them, I could barely sit up!

Charlotte was immediately given respiratory assistance and put on a CPAP. That ceased to be enough, and she was put on a ventilator. She inhaled bloody fluid from the abruption and has pneumonia. Today, she was put back onto the CPAP, and is being treated for the pneumonia.

By the grace of God, all are doing well. Will post more and pics soon.

Halloween pics of the girls

Big sister took them to a Halloween party at the library today. A good time was had by all!

Pic of the dynamic duo.....

Having posted pics in a long while of the dynamic duo. Miss A said this past weekend that she hopes the new baby will be chocolate, like her.

21 weeks pregnant...

Had my follow up visit with the perinatologist/maternal fetal medicine specialist. He did a REALLY long u/s looking hard for soft and hard markers of chromosomal abnormalities, along with any physical defects. Nothing, zero, zip, zilch, nada. While it doesn't mean that the baby doesn't have any chromosomal defects, it certainly lessens our chances. And in any case, it means that baby is nice and healthy! Baby weighs a whopping 12 oz, about the same as a bottle of pop. Oh, and both u/s seemed to indicate that it is a baby girl! Wood was right, I was wrong. He said to go with the trend, I really felt it was a baby boy! Asrat and Grace have gotten over their momentary dissapointment over wanting a boy and are quite excited to be welcoming the 4th girl to our family. We will have 4 girls and 1 boy, ranging in age from almost 23 to newborn!

Physically, this pregancy is hard on me - I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I've developed SPD, so walking, standing and doing stairs is painful. Working full time really tires me out. I really want to work right up until the very end, so that I can take as much time off as possible WITH the baby after she is born.

18+ weeks pregnant.....

Had my 18-20 weeks anatomy u/s today. Hopefully, I can get results from the radiologist by tomorrow. To my (untrained) eyes, things looked great. Admittedly, the last pic (4D) is more than a bit alien looking. Tech said they come out much better after 30 weeks, and I can come back then and they'll do a few for me no charge.

I've gained about 8lbs or so (baby weighs a whopping 9 oz, so where's the rest of the 7.5 lbs??)

I've started pulling the babies room together. G&A, although they technically have separate rooms now, only sleep in the same room. So I'm taking over A's room for the baby. We're doing a Dr. Seuss theme (works for boy or girl),with Horton as the main theme "A person's a person, no matter how small".

G&A were in a mall fashion show last night representing my workplace. They had fun and looked oh so cute!