Thursday May 30, 2013

Hannah weighed 1270 grams tonight.  That is 2 pounds 13 ounces.  She has been gaining about an ounce a day.  She is still off oxygen.  She has episodes where she will stop breathing for a little bit.  They call them A&B's.  They grade them.  A grade zero is when she starts breathing again on her own.  A grade one is when the nurse has to touch her and stimulate her to get her to breathe.  Yesterday she had two grade zero and one grade one episode.  Today she has had one grade one that I know of.  It is very normal for premature babies.  She should grow out of it.  If she doesn't they may give her caffeine.   The bad thing about putting her on caffeine is it takes them about 14 days to wein the baby off of it.  All in all she is doing really good. 

May 30th (13 days old)  So sleepy

Snuggling Mom

Wide Awake

So tiny next to dad

Mack listening with the stethoscope

Mack is crazy about her

Big sister

Crashed at the Ronald McDonald house

1 week old

Thursday May 23, 2013

The days seem to go by so much faster now that Hannah is here. I was released from the hospital on Tuesday. I had been in the hospital for 26 days!!!   Adam joked that I was like an inmate getting out of jail. I didn't know what to do with myself.  I am learning now how good those three extra weeks were for Hannah. We feel truly blessed with how well she is doing.

They have increased her feedings each day. Wednesday she was getting 15 ml every three hours. Today they increased her to 18 ml. They are feeding her enough through the feeding tube that they were able to take her IV out on Tuesday.

She is such a sweet baby. With how well she is doing I am able to get to hold her more often and for longer periods of time.

We are so appreciate of everyone's love and kindness.

They were changing her feeding tube so I took a picture with it out. 

Mack on his way to preschool graduation.

Chloe at a "Mother Daughter" activity

IV in her head (so sad)

Such a sweet baby

Sunday May 19, 2013

Hannah is doing so good. She has been moved from the critical care room where she had her own nurse.  She is now in a pod where her nurse takes care of her and a set of twins. The have increased her feedings from 3 ml to 6 ml every three hours. 6 ml is about one teaspoon.

Chloe and Mack got to see her today. They were so excited.

Big Brother and Big Sister name tags

Mack wanted to hold her so bad

Saturday May 18, 2013

Hannah is doing so well. They took her off the oxygen this morning about 5:00 a.m.  We feel truly blessed. We are so in love.

1st bow and 1st feeding

The pacifier is as almost as big as her head!

Stretching her little leg. 

No tubes. 

First time holding her. 

Mack's 1st T-Ball Game

 Chloe's Ballet Recital

Adam's 1st Time holing Hannah

Hannah is here!

  Well Hurricane Hannah is here and doing well.  She came out screaming at a whopping 2lbs 9 oz. and measuring 14 inches long.  She is doing really good and so is mom!

Friday May 17, 2013

On Wednesday late afternoon my nurse came in and told me the doctor had ordered a biophysical profile (BPP) ultrasound.  It is an ultrasound that watches for specific movement on the baby within a specific amount of time.  They had ordered this ultrasound because the baby wasn't as reactive on the NST as she should have been.  I was pretty worried waiting for them to come get me for the ultrasound.  The baby did great.  She scored 8 out of  8.  My nerves were pretty shot by the end of the day.  

Thursday my nurse did my NST early in the day, like around 10:00.  All day she kept telling me she hadn't heard anything back and usually no news is good news. About 6:00 the nurse came into tell me they had ordered another BPP.  Later she came back to tell me that ultrasound was swamped and they weren't sure when they would come to get me.  I wasn't as nervous because everything had been ok on Wednesday and I had been feeling her move quit a bit.  Since ultrasound wasn't getting to me the doctor changed her mind and had me repeat the NST instead of doing the BPP ultrasound.   

Today's ultrasound showed zero flow on almost every place in the cord they looked.  Then there were intermittent spots that had negative flow.  Today is the first day they have seen the negative flow.  The baby is probably about 6 weeks behind overall.  They estimate she weights about 904 grams which is right at 2 pounds. At 32 weeks a baby should weigh about 3.75 pounds. 

I just spoke with the doctors and they are going to deliver the baby today.  

Wednesday May 15, 2013

Not a lot to report today. My tests for preeclampsia came back normal so that is good news.

Mack made his own binoculars. 

Chloe made herself at home. 

Mack loves to use chop sticks

Passing the time at the hospital

Mack is so tired. 30 minute sacrament meeting was too long for him. 

Baking Soda Paste to get the green out of my hair

Bottled water from the nurses to wash my hair with.  They ordered this from the cafeteria. 

Adam brought two right foot brown shoes to wear to church!

Tuesday May 14, 2013

32 Weeks

I had another ultrasound today.  It looked good today.  The baby continues to look good on the Non Stress Tests and my amniotic fluid is also good.  They are a little worried about my blood pressure.  They are running some test to make sure I don't have preeclampsia.  It is common to develop preeclampsia when you have a poor functioning placenta. 

They will do another ultrasound on Friday to check the blood flow and they will also measure her again.  I am anxious to see how she has grown. 

Friday May 10, 2013

I have been in the hospital for two weeks now.  Things have stayed the same this week.  My ultrasound today was pretty good.  My amniotic fluid has also stayed good.  The baby continues to look good on the non stress tests.  I just spoke with the doctor.  She feels like things are stable and we should continue on as we have been. 

I tried the baking soda paste on my hair on Wednesday.  That same day my Aunt Elizabeth brought me some swimmer's shampoo.  My hair is improving.  It is a total pain to wash your hair with bottled water.  Not to mention it is very cold on your head. 

Tuesday May 7, 2013

31 weeks today

The ultrasound today was better than yesterday's.  There was a some "zero flow" today but not nearly like there was yesterday.  We have had a different doctor every day since Friday.  The doctor today feels like we are over testing.  He feels like we do not need to repeat the ultrasound again until Friday.  He says this is something that will fluctuate from day to day.  Adam and I are a little frustrated.  I miss being in at home, seeing the same doctor for every appointment.  Here there are so many doctors and each have a different opinion I feel like we are getting bounced around  The doctor we spoke to on Sunday told me that if my tests were good on Monday they would probably release me from the hospital.  She obviously hadn't read my history.  The doctor today told me I am not going anywhere.  He also said until we see "negative flow" we will continue doing what we have been doing. 

The baby looks good on the non stress tests.  We did two today.  They will continue to do the non stress test daily, so hopefully if things start to get worse they will pick up any problem.  

I talked to the nurse today about my hair.  She is Spanish and I don't think she had ever heard of anyone's hair turning green.  She thought I was crazy for thinking it would be the water here.  Then she brought the charge nurse in and she was so nice.  She called the maintenance department.  They do add some chemicals to their water to prevent a disease.  I can't remember what disease she said.  They had the nutrition department bring me two cases of bottled water with my dinner.  This same charge nurse is also going to buy me some baking soda tonight while she is at the grocery store.  We have read that if you make a paste with banking soda it is supposed to take the green out of your hair.      

Monday May 6, 2013

Today's ultrasound was not as good as the ultrasounds were last week.  I had zero flow again today in the cord.  They are going to do another non stress test here anytime to evaluate how the baby is doing.  Assuming the baby looks good on the NST they will wait until tomorrow to repeat the ultrasound.  They had planned on doing the ultrasounds Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week, but after what they saw on today's ultrasound they are going to do them every day this week.  The situation gets more critical when there is negative blood flow and they have not seen that yet.   

The baby is breech.  Being breech combined with her small size I am most likely going to have to have a c-section.  I am very nervous about this.  Adam and I watched a video of a c-section and it has us both scared.  I thought Adam was going to throw-up.   

The water here at the hospital is turning my hair green.  Yep like a swimming pool would.  The girl pushing me in my wheel chair today even said to me "so what is with the green hair?"  Yes it is really that bad and I have been here less than two weeks. 

Chloe after her school carnival on the way to come visit me

Mack's snack from the nurses.  Crackers, peanut butter and milk.  

Dad can put in ponytails

Chloe is taking over.  She is wearing my robe and using my pillows and blanket while I am gone.

Mitch finally got Mack up on the horse for the first time. 

Saturday May 4, 2013

Things have continued to stay stable. The last few days I have questioned if I really need to be in the hospital. Today one of the doctors we saw in Logan came in to check on us. It was so nice to have her come talk to us and I was so glad Adam was here when she came by. She knows my history.  She told me as much as I feel like I am in jail, because of where we live this is the right place for me to be. She was very pleased that I have made it to 30 weeks.   She also said because of what she has seen with the blood flow in my cord we need to continue to monitor the baby every day.

Mack and my mom came down earlier in the day on Friday. It is so good to have them here. Adam took Chloe to her school carnival Friday evening, then they came later Friday night.

Wednesday May 1, 2013

Today has been another good day.  It is hard for me to be in the hospital when I feel perfectly fine.  The baby is passing all the tests and the blood flow in the cord looked pretty good again today.

The doctor has ordered "recreational therapy" for me.  This includes a weekly luncheon with other patients similar to me. They sometimes bring in a dog to play with (not really my thing).  Sometimes they will have classes like learning to knit.  It is mostly stuff to help with boredom.

Thank you everyone who is helping us, checking on us and praying for us. We appreciate all the support.