Time Flies

It is crazy how time has flown these last three months being a first time mom has had its ups and downs but I can't imagine a day without our prefect little baby we are so blessed to have her in our lives a year ago if you would have told us we would have a little girl we wouldn't have believed you because we thought it was going to be a trial getting pregnant but we are so thankful that we got our baby girl we enjoy every minute even when they are not good minutes :).  On Sunday our little girl was baptized at St. Mary's in Waverly  we are so thankful our family could be there my Older sister Katie and Sam's middle brother are Lily's Godparents we are so happy that they can be apart of her life and her faith formation.  Lots have happened in the last three months our little girl is already over 9.5 lbs, she is growing like a weed I just cant believe it, she gets to come and help me at work she loves that and so does her Great Uncle Roger we have lots of fun, we get our work done to of course ;) we are so thankful that we can be together and still work. We went to Blackhawk Fair, Bremer Fair and the Iowa State Fair, we also enjoyed so time up at our cabin in Minnesota.  Our little girl has been suffering with some acid reflux which may be do to her prematureness but we are working through it so hopefully she is a little happier but other then that she is a bundle of smiles and she has started to talk to us (cooing) it is so fun to think about what is going on in that little head of hers I am so glad that my family is close by I couldn't do it without them they are so much help and support and I just love to she her cousin Alyvia interact with her it is so cute :) well sorry for the long post it has just been crazy around here and i finally found some time when Lily is having Daddy time so I could do a little update.

Black Hawk Fair with Aunt Pam Cousin Kayla and Teen Mom Bryleigh

 

State Fair with Aunt Stephanie

Cabin in Minnesota

sorry

Sorry it has been so long since i have posted the days just seem to run together up at the hospital but all is well and we are all doing good Lily is progressing well and eating good and gaining weight we are on her schedule like always so we will see what she decides we cant wait to take her home and have Wendall (our doggie :)) meet her for the first time but more pictures and post to come just had a few seconds hope all is well with everyone reading this and thanks for the thoughts and prayers they are helping

June 26 update

Not much to update today Lilly is still improving I think every time we come in they have increased her feedings which is Awesome because that is whats she needs to be big and strong so she can get moved to a "open air" crib and eventually be sent home.  Lucky girl got to get her IV out today as she is done with her dose of antibiotics so she just has a few monitors and a feeding tube left they are starting to put clothes on her which is fun just cant wait to get to put some of the clothes on her we have gotten as gifts :)

June 24th Update

                A lot has happened since the last update.  First off, yesterday afternoon Lily got rid of her last belly-button IV, which means she is now getting 100% of her nutrition from just her feedings.  Last night, Sam got to hold her for the first time. That was an awesome sight to see Lilly even put her Daddy to sleep it was a very cute moment.  As her cultures stand right now, she only has one more day of antibiotics left.  Which means hopefully she will get the last IV out of her hand and won’t have her “billy club” anymore.  This morning, she wasn’t a Glow Worm anymore because her billy blanket had been removed, that means her billy count is down and continues to drop.  We finally got around to purchasing the rest of our big items for home yesterday, like her crib and bouncer and some little extras that will make her more comfortable when she gets to come home.  Now the waiting continues she still has to get out of the incubator and into an “open air” crib, we also have to wait to see how big she will be when she gets to come home so we can go stock up on diapers, wipes, clothes, and all the other fun stuff that comes with our little Lily. 

June 23rd Morning Update

We have great news this morning.  Lily did AWESOME overnight and gets to be off of her oxygen which is a great step forward in her progress.  I also got to hold her again last night and it was awesome because she didn’t have the have all her crazy CPAP stuff.  I can’t wait for more of that.  She also got to cuddle in her Great-Grandma's blanket. :)

June 22nd morning Update

Good things happened over night. Lily tolerated being fed more so she will be at 12 ML at her next feeding and will keep going up until it hits 15 for now. Her oxygen levels got to be taken down so she is breathing more and more on her own, which is awesome. Just still waiting to see how she tolerates that as to what the next step is (either putting her on the nasal cannulas-the smaller ones that don’t go into the nose, or taking her off completely, and seeing how she does on her own). Her Billy count was up just a little but that still has time to peak and come down, so it is not a worry at all. As I am writing this Little Lily and her daddy are sleeping. It is very peaceful for being in a hospital. The staff here at Covenant is great and I just am so blessed to have our family safe and sound J

June 21st Update

As of when we left on the 21^st Lily had one of her belly button tubes out, she was taken off her intubation tube and back onto CPAP, she was going to be fed 1 ML more each feeding, which if she tolerates she will be able to get off some more IV’s . The more tubes and IV’s she can get off the better because that means she is doing it on her own and does not need the help of the machines. One GREAT thing we got to experience on the 21^st was I got to hold Lily for the first time that was an AWESOME feeling. I am hoping there is more of that to come.

Background

So it has been a ride since Lily has been in the hospital but here is a quick overview. The biggest thing they have been watching is her lungs and oxygen levels. Because she was six weeks early, her lungs weren’t fully developed so they started with some x-rays to see what they were working with. The bottom part of her lungs just weren’t developed enough so she had to have a treatment of surfactant ( a “chemical” in your body that helps the lungs develop) and has been on CPAP (tubes down her nose for her oxygen). She was getting very tired and working too hard to breathe so they decided to intubate her just to help her body not have to work so hard, and at that point they did another round of surfactant. She also got two IV’s into her belly button to provide her with her fluids. She has been having good output in her diapers since the start which is a good sign. She has been tolerating her feedings once they started she likes to keep her nurses on their toes by setting her monitors off when she is having her fits J one thing that they had to do was lower her resting heart rate monitor because she would set that one off all the time. It is nothing to be alarmed about because she has the resting heart rate of a full term baby, but they don’t expect that preterm babies will have one that low so her heart is an overachiever which is good. One other thing that she has been on from almost the start is a Billy Blanket which is a light to help with her Billy count (jaundice) and her numbers have been going up a little but nothing to be concerned about because it could take 4 to 5 days for those to peek and then start going down, so for now we have our little Glow Worm.