Shots

Well my 3 pounder is now 3lbs 3.4oz! She looks so much bigger too. She actually has meat on her legs and arms now! She is starting to show more and more features and look like a little baby now. Not that she never did, but she just looks "older" as the nurses say. Not much to report today. She got her 2 month shots today. I cant believe tomorrow at 8:52 pm she will be 2 months! Time is flying! I had to work so I snuggled her in the morning and went to work and Josh stayed with her while she got her shots. I felt better that way too! He text me at work and said they gave her some "sweeties" on her nuc (sugar water) and she just sucked away and never cried, flinched, woke up, or wrinkled her forehead. I knew she would be a trooper! She has been since day one! Shes used to being poked unfortunately and this poke didnt even phase her either. She was realllly buzzy tonight while we were holding her so mom and dad put her to bed and had a movie date night on the couch. Much needed and tomorrow I am going to get her nursery all cleaned out and get everything ready for my showers next weekend so theres somewhere to go with everything she is so blessed to receive!

Loving Life

Tomorrow Brielle has a chest Xray to make sure her lungs are still expanded and then they are going to lower her settings on the vapotherm! She will go down to 5 liters and when she is 4liters or lower they can start introducing the bottle. Her blood gases are the lowest they have been! 41! Thats great! They like them between 45-55. She is usually high 50's and upper 60's. Showing them she wants those prongs off! This morning Kathy took her out to play and while she was sucking on her nuc she dropped a few drops of milk in her mouth so she can start to get used to the suck swallow breath. Next week when she gets on the lower setting Kathy said she would like to try to give Brielle just a nipple from a bottle and just drop milk in it so she doesnt get too overwhelmed on alot of milk. Since she sucks on her nuc like a banchy, she might try to take the bottle in one gulp! A bunch of nurses have predicted that :)

They may do one more ECHO before her last MRI or it might just be her MRI before she goes homne. The MRI shows more than the ECHO does anyway and we cant do anything about it if more pop up anyways. Its just putting her thru another test. Xray of lungs in the morning and she gets her 3 2month big girl shots :( She will be a trooper! Shes been poked and proded so much and often already, shes got this! She will have another eye test next week. He isnt too concerned but being this premature, she could turn for the worst so quickly that he just wants to watch it closely. AGREED!

She had her 8 week developmental review yesterday. The PT comes in and just watches all her cares and watched me hold her and her being fed. She was amazed at how well Brielle tolerates her feedings. She very very seldom spits up anything. She gets the hiccups regularly tho. She loved how often she smiled while just laying by me and when I talked to her. She loved how she would sigh to catch her breathing and slow herself down. She even stayed to just watch her after she was done with the appointment. She gave me a compliment I was quite pleased with. She said to me "Did you know that you were going to be a natural mother and caregiver?" And I think I gave her that look and she said "I mean you know what she needs and you just do it to make her comfortable and settle nicely." I thought that was nice. Sometimes its hard to feel like a mom up there. But now that we can get her out and bathe her by ourselves it more of an independece feeling. So when shes crabby we are figuring out why and her noises and moves to make the change to make her happy. She said she is acting much like a 32 weeker and a 3 pounder!

Mom and Dad are going to give her a bath tonight! Grandpa Mike is coming up to hold. Grandpa Brad held yesterday. Mom had to get an order from the doctor to allow grandparents to hold her since she is on oxygen. He agreed to once a grandparent. We will weigh her before her bath tonight and see how much she is up. or down.

3lbs!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats right folks!! Brielle has reached 3lbs!! She is 3lbs .6oz and 15" to be exact!! She is doing AMAZING on her vapotherm! We couldnt ask for much more progress than she is giving us! Mommy and Daddy are soooo proud of her! Hopefully she keeps that .6oz and doesnt poop it out or something! She was grunting pretty good after we weighed her, but overall after everything is said and done, she reached 3lbs regardless :) Keep growing MY PRECIOUS GIRL! Keep Growing!!!!

Eye Test

Brielle had her eyes tested today for ROP. She has Stage 1 Zone 2. The vessels start to grow from the back to the front. So they are making sure they are growing around the retina and not towards the retina. If they grow towards the retina, they could detach the retina. There are studies that show that the more oxygen she is on the more problems she may have. Since shes been on alot of oxygen, it seems she is doing good with it. So she has some tangling of the vessels but not too bad. Stage 4 is the worst and zone 5 is the best. When she gets to Stage 4 the retina is completely detached. When she gets to Zone 5 there arent problems. So just getting her to Stage 1 Zone 5. Confusing, I KNOW!

She is 2lbs 14.2 oz today. Little fart just wont hit 3lbs! She is tolerating the vapo therm very well!! Currently she is at 32% but was down to 26% and she is high sating right now! Likes daddy holding her! Tomorrow I am sitting in on her developmental review. And her ECHO came back the same as last week. Still small to moderate.

Thats about all I know! Work is going okay. Nice to get back to some normalcy, but I am sooo exhausted!! I get up at 6am to the hospital by 7:15. Then to work from 10-3:30, run home to let dogs out quick, change clothes, maybe throw in a quick dinner, and back to the hospital by 4:30 to meet Josh and do her cares. We usually get home around 7 eat and clean up, play with the dogs for a minute and in bed by 10. And then up to do it all over. It will be so nice when shes home and we can eliminate the 20 minute drive to and from the hospital! love all the NICU nurses but its time!!

Grandmas get to snuggle

Well we got over our selfishness and let the two grandmas snuggle Brielle so far. I know both moms have been dying to hold her since she was born and didnt expect to til she was home. So last night we asked the nurse when she thought others could start to hold Brielle. She said it was soley up to us and she thought she was ready since she loves being held. It was up to us when and if and how long and who. Well my mom was coming up anyways that same night and Josh willingly gave up his time and said he wanted my mom to hold her since it would be a great birthday gift. So when she got here we had her sit in the chair and josh was holding her and I acted like I was going to give her her gift and then said "On second thought, We think you would like this gift better" and placed Bri in her arms. She loved it!!! Then we had to call Cindy and get her to come up the next night so she could hold. She of course said ya not knowing she would be holding! So when she got here she least expected it when Josh put her in her arms. She cried. She didnt think that she would be able to hold her til she came home. And us either. We were not sure. We didnt know what to expect. Or did we know if we would ever want to give her up, since our time is limited to once a day for an hour or so. Some nurses say we are crazy for letting other people hold her already, but how can we not? Our parents have been such a huge support system for us that we atleast wanted to share the joy with them once in awhile. Its easy to be selfish and keep her to ourselves. But sharing the joy is very exciting to see the joy on their faces when they get to hold their grandchild.

Mom and Dad got to give Brielle a bath on their own today!! We did okay! I held her in the water and dad washed her little body and hair. She just loves bath time! Wide awake the whole time.

Brielle is now off her CPAP and on Vapo therm. Next step is the nasal cannula and then nothing! Shes getting there but still has along ways to go. She is losing a bit of weight. She is 2lbs 13 oz now. and still at 15 inches. Everyone said 3lbs was hard to hit and I thought it was easy as she was creeping up sooo fast to it but then she hit 2lbs 14oz and crept right back down. But shes been doing alot on her own as a big girl now so she is just tired and needs to put all her energy into breathing on her own now. She will get there. Glad to see her with all her face gear off and you can see her pretty little eyes and her hair!

54 days In the NICU completed!

54 days down in the NICU! I honestly have to say it doesnt feel like that long. I hope the next month and a half go this fast!! But alot smoother! She can let mommy and daddy and everyone supporting us off her little rollercoaster ride now! She is on a steroid to help with her lungs getting off the vent so it causes her to not be able to gain weight as easily. So she is at 2lbs 14.1 oz. They didnt measure her yet. So Ill let you know tomorrow! She definately looks bigger to me! She is still on the CPAP but now shes on the short prongs instead of the long prongs. So she has to have a hat on that has ties to keep the prongs in her nose. And she needs to keep her mouth shut. Welllll since she was on the breathing tube for so long she is so used to having her mouth wide open that she just wont shut it! So she sometimes has to have a chin strap that goes around her head and chin and keeps her mouth closed. She is still doing very well on her oxygen %. she has her ECHO tomorrow so lets all hope that her PDA is still closing very well and no more talk of possible surgery! She is fine just where she is!! The nurses say sometimes they hear it and sometimes not. So I'm hoping its better than good news tomorrow!!

O and Gma Cindy, mommy, and daddy picked out Brielles material for her curtains for her room :) It is SO cool! I'm way excited! Before you know it We will have her home! So thought we should probably have a room for her to come home it :) I will get pics up when its in order!!

Over 24 hours!!

Well Brielle is still off the vent and on the neo prong CPAP! She has been anywhere from 38%-60% all day! She has been off of it 27 hours now (6pm). GO BRIELLE!!!! She is doing very well and dont really see her going back on so far. But this is the NICU. And things change in the blink of an eye! Shes been having more bradys today (where she stops breathing) But I truly think thats because the prongs have some moisture in them and it goes down her nose and kind of drowns her alittle bit. Think how you feel when you get a nose full of water. You dont like it, and she doesnt either so she holds her breath. She recovers pretty much by herself with no assistance which is a good thing! She weighs 2 lbs 14.2oz. Not getting to the 3lbs mark as quickly as we expected. But the nurses are not too concerned with them taking the tube out (a few extra oz) and her having to breath all on her own, burns calories. So I guess mom wont pout about it quite yet! Just want her to be a big girl already!

Extubated

Brielle was extubated for the 3rd time now at about 3pm today. The first time she made it 2 hours and this last tuesday when she extubated herself she made it 12 hours and this time she got steroids to help her out so lets hope she makes it for good!! She is fiesty, as I have said since day one!! She DOES NOT like her new nasal prongs and she has pulled them out 4 times in an hour and a half. So Barb has put her in a "straight jacket" swaddler. She managed to break loose when we werent looking and pulled them out again. They are giving her some drugs to settle her down, since she high sats when she is relaxed and she desats when she id fighting. She does however like the fact that she can have her beloved nuc and suck on the whole thing freely! I think she loves not having the tube down her throat but she didnt think she would have an extra tube shoved down her nose. She keeps sneezing which also forces it out. The plus for mommy and daddy is we can hear her trying to fuss and cry. O sweet sound! We havent heard that in over a month!!! Guess what!! she is almost 2 months old!!!! Where did the time go?? Next week she gets to have her first ROP eye test. And in 8 days she gets her 2 month shots :( Such a big girl! I remember asking the Dr. about the ROP eye test out of curiosity and she said "O thats like 31 32 weeks, ALONG time down the road!!" Well guess what! We are ALONG time down the road already! Last night she weighed 2ls 14 oz so we will see what she weighs tonight. 3lbs here we come! Breathing tubes, GOODBYE! (hopefully!!!!) 2 months right around the corner! Bottle feeding in a few weeks!! seems like she is on a roll!!

Spa Day Number 3!

Well Brielle actually lost .1 oz. So she is at 2 lbs 13.8 oz. She was .9 yesterday I was wrong. But She got a big girl bath this morning!! We usually give her a bath in this little approx 12 x 6 bucket and now she got to use the actual baby tub! She loved it as usual! she loves spa day! She was so awake and alert as to what was going on and all the nurses just loved her! Everyone says how beautiful she is and precious. Yup! Thats our little peanut! Tomorrow she is going to try to get extubated again, this time by the nurses! Lets hope she can stay off the vent this time for good! We are hoping! She is trying so hard to be a big girl!!

CLOSE!

So Brielle is 2lbs 13.7oz. We are going to weigh her before we go home tonight so maybe I will repost and she will be 3lbs!! O so Close! My baby girl is getting so big before my eyes! Never thought I'd say that about a 3lb baby!! hehe So the plan so far unless Brielle decides to do things different, is to extubate her on Friday/Saturday. So cross your fingers, eyes, toes, arms, and legs that she stays off the vent!!! Daddys holding her again, and respiratory checked to make sure her tube was in fully in this time before giving her to daddy! My friend Candee made Brielle the cutest blanket tonight!! A cute pattern of circles and butterflys in bright colors of purples, yellows, lime grees, light and dark blues, and hot pinks! A very cute blanket we can use for tummy time when little miss gets home :) Thank you Candee!!!

Well I think thats all! Mama Goose signing off unless shes 3lbs!!

No surgery!

Yup, you read correct!! Bri is staying right where she is!! Well she get to go for a ride, but it was only to a window seat! And like the nurses said, it will help her know day from night and when to sleep and be awake! So shes not out of the woods yet, but her ECHO did look really much better than last week and her heart is looking much better. So Dr. Abe is just going to monitor her heart and lungs and go from there. So right after the meeting, Brielle decided to pull out her breathing tube while daddy was holding her and gave Daddy, Gpa Mike, Ginny and Miranda a good scare. Josh ran and got me and I came back to 2 respiratory people, the nurse, and Dr abe working on her. They were going to pull the tube tomorrow anyway but Brielle decided NOW! hehe I am still at the hospital right now and she is on the CPAP at a rate of 30 and at 65% oxygen. Alittle higher than we would want her but really for doing it on her own thats pretty good! And she is pissed off at the world right now and we cant get her to settle down. Once she settles and calms down from all the commotion she should go down on her Oxygen. She is crying alittle bit. Yelling at Daneen (respiratory) hehe. So so far she is tolerating her new breathing machine. Lets hope she stays extubated now!! Mommy cant wait to hold tomorrow and maybe she will cry alittle bit for me!

To do surgery or not to do surgery?????

Well another uncertainty in the world of a preemie!! Brielles ECHO came back and her PDA did close slightly. Soooooo is she closing slowly or will she still need to have the surgery?? This is the question the doctors are facing and trying to decide. Now for the part I do NOT like...She will have to go to Milwaukee. :( Apparently they are down a surgeon so that is why she has to go down there. The risk of transporting her is a risk in itself and the risk of not sending her and leaving the PDA is a risk as well. And depending on my insurance she will come back or they will refuse to pay for her transport back :( And she will have to stay there til she comes home. That is the ultimate worse! So mommy wont sleep til I get word tomorrow as to what they decide......Not news I wanted to hear but thats the name of this game I guess. The good, the bad, the evil.

On a lighter note.....Dr Abe called Brielle a "Superstar" today!! & I heard she is starting to have seniority around there. They upped Brielles calories to 26 to try to put some weight on her. I thought she was gaining good but I guess not. Dr. Debbie would have taken her breathing tube out today and tried her on the CPAP but she didnt want to extubate her if she was having surgery on Wednesday. So that is better news than the first news atleast! Keep the prayers coming and hope we find the right answer.

Special Delivery!!!!

Well it was mommys first day back to work. Was alittle sad. Felt I should be elsewhere. Then I got flowers given to be from the service desk. (Special Thank you to the deliveree-You know who you are and I think I might too :P) I opened the card and it was from "Little Miss" Brielle!!! There was a very very very nicely written card with it!! It was sooooooo cute I cried!! It said that god and Ayden were watching over her and she needed to be there to get strong to come home with me and daddy. And that it was okay mommy you have to go to work and she understands and when I do come to visit after work, our visit would be extra extra special and extra hugs!! She was right :) I couldnt wait I went up right away to give her extra hugs and kisses!!! Daddy held her for 2 hours this morning while I was at work and Mommy held her for 2 hours after work! I Gave her her second bath ever!! Watched her poop on the nurse :) and we weighed her!! Guess how much??? 2 lbs 10.7oz!!!!! YAY she is over 2 1/2 lbs already!!! Moving right along to 3 lbs!!! Not sure what her surgery will impact her weight tho. Have to wait and see! I'm not very good at waiting! But this whole process has definately taught me to be more patient! O and guess what again!! She is...........drum roll.............15 inches long!!!!!!! Long way from her 12" at birth! and her head is 26" circ. from 22 at birth. What a big girl!!! What am I going to do when she is like 6lbs??? She seems so big to me already at 2 1/2 lbs and I'm starting to get comfortable rolling her over and moving her etc. Even tho she cant cry she sure does tell you by her cute little faces that shes not happy!! She sucks on her breathing tube so loud you can hear it! She was making duck call noises tonight. Daddy thinks shes got them down pat and ready to go hunting :) A man can dream cant he :P ECHO tomorrow for her PDA. Dawn let me and Josh listen to it last night. It is LOUD!! Now I know what all the nurses mean! Holy Moly!

Our Shining Star.....

So we went to a campfire at my dads tonight and I was just sitting and happened to look into the sky. There was one lonely but bright star in the sky. I looked at Josh and said "Josh look at that one star" amd he looked at me and said "Ya I know, Ayden." We both thought the same thing. I got Anthony (my 3 year old nephew) and said "look at that star in the sky. That is your baby cousin Ayden." Anthony says "Can I talk to him?" I said "Yes you can. You can say Hi." A few minutes later as hes playing he comes back and says "Look its another Ayden!" He saw another star in the sky. I says to him "Ya, Ayden brought some friends." I remembered then how Grandma Cindy had told me that she has stars in the Sky for her special people that have passed on and now has added Ayden to her nightly star gazing. Just made me feel like Ayden was watching over. Anthony was blowing bubbles as well and a big bubble just kept floating higher and higher into the night sky til you could barely see it anymore and then popped. Another sign? Maybe. Watch over your little sister my son. Make sure that her surgery goes well and keep on pushing her to get strong and big so she can come home. Love you and Miss you, never stop thinking bout you little man. Mama and daddy love you!

YAY!

Well Heres your good news Grandma Cindy.....NO NEW CYSTS have grown!!! YAY!! I was so excited Dr abe stopped me before I went to my Dr. Appt this morning to give me the news!! On another note, I was released to go back to work and will be returning on Sunday :( Bummer! But I think it will do me some good to get back into some type of normalcy. I will still be going up for her 7:30 feeding and then to work by 10 and that back up for her 4:30 feeding. I will be one worn out mama but its just what has to happen!! I cant go to work without seeing my little girl! I stand corrected on my blog the other day, Brielle isnt the smallest anymore. The new 25 weeker is smaller than Bri right now but bigger than Bri was when she was born. So shes still a big girl! Other than that, not much! ECHO on Monday and then we can set a date for the ligation. Cant wait til next week is over! Just want her to have it, heal and get on her way to getting big and strong to come home where she belongs!!

Big Girl

Well its official! Brielle is still the smallest but not the youngest anymore. Shes getting to be a big girl :0 Dr Abe said that little miss is doing better! Always nice to hear it from the Dr. even if I know she is. She is getting another Blood transfusion today. Josh said to me today "At this rate she isnt going to have anymore of our blood left in her" Lol Funny guy! She will have a cranial u/s tomorrow to check for more cysts. Monday she will have her ECHO on her heart done so they can determine when they will do the PDA ligation. She does have confirmed pneumonia now so they are taking her off her current antibiotic and switching her to the pneumonia one (dont ask me names hehe) for 5 days. Laura said that Dr Meyers wrote we can hold her as long as she tolerates and as often. So we arent restricted to the twice a day anymore!! YES!! So I told her I would be there every 3 hours to hold her then like 5 times a day, and Josh said "Only You" and Laura basically said "Dont push it" lol OKay OKay, I will just take my turn in the morning and try to stay home. But Bris nurse Pam was telling me this morning that Africas NICU doesnt have incubators so they actually pay women to Kangaroo babies 24 hours a day. I think I could do that job!!! I would hold little peanut all day if they'd let me. I dont know what I am going to do when she comes home and I can hold her when I want and for how long I want! Someday...........

A BIG HUG DAY!

Well.....Mama got some needed Bri Time! I got to Hug her for 2 hours and 15 min!!! And she only had a few desats otherwise she was high! She was in the 40%s when I was holding her. Her lung Xray looked alittle better today so I'm hoping she is over her worst and feeling more up to par. She didnt need any morphine last night to settle!! Still has a temp going up and down they are monitoring with tylenol. Sounds like Dr Abe is going to repeat her ECHO on her heart and see if her ductus on her PDA is open or closing or whats the deal. Sounds like they still hear it so its just a matter of WHEN now. Hopefully Dad will get to hug Little Miss tonight. He sure could use a hug from her :)

Surgery

Well Dr. Abe is thinking that Brielle has pneumonia again. Her chest xray doesnt look as good as it has been. They got some test and just waiting to see what they come back. Just feels like Little Miss cant get a break like papa Brad said. Dr Abe is also talking about doing surgery next week on her PDA to close it off. So scary since she is such a small little thing!

Well I just called the NICU and Kathy said that her temp is down from 100.4 to 98 the Tylenol is kicking it. and the morphine is settling her she was 100% when I left at 11:30 and she is now at 49%.

I was researching the PDA since I dont know what to think. And most of the stories I read from moms of babies that have had the surgery say that it is more of a risk to not have the surgery than it is to have the surgery. And all their babies are doing wonderful after the surgery and look better than they did before the surgery. Alot of those babies were alert and looking better as soon as the drugs wore off and their vent settings went down after the surgery. And they took off after that! Feedings went up and they were gaining weight! I feel better reading all that that they do in deed get better after the surgery since they dont have proper blood flow going but its still a major surgery she may be facing and as a mom you never want that for your baby!

Brielles temperature has been all over the place lately and this morning her fingers were cold to the touch. So the nurse wanted to do some blood tests to make sure she isnt getting an infection. She looks good and is acting good but better to head off an infection early on! I agree!! Dr abe was saying that since her isolette temp is down so low and kind of lowered fast that she might just not be used to the change and sometimes just by uping the temp again will help that, and she is getting old she might just be hotter. So a few things that might be going on. She had her ECHO done just as I was leaving today to see if her PDA is getting better. She also went up a size in diapers!! She was peeing out of her little preemie ones so these are still preemies but up to 6lbs now. They are big on her but not as big as I expected! I held little miss this morning and she was not liking the craddle hold position and went up in the 60% oxygen. So we put her up on my chest kind of like kangarooing and she liked that better. She was in the high 90 sat levels. But then she would drop to 79 in a blink of an eye. She didnt know where she wanted to be today. Keeping all the nurses on their toes. And mom, She had 2 Bradys on me where her heart rate drops really low and she starts to turn blue. Ann and Pam got her out of them pretty fast tho. Scary stuff that little miss shouldnt do :) She weighs 2 lbs 5.7 oz and is 13.5 inches long now. She is eating 21ML every 3 hours now. Dr. Abe didnt see her for a week and said shes getting so big :) Grow baby Grow!!! I had a dream last night after me and laura and josh were discussing her coming home, that We were given the OK to take her home today and I was panicking trying to find a small enough carseat so I can take her home. I think I need to just stop thinking about the day I can bring her home til that week arrives. Getting my hopes up alittle here....Who wouldnt? 6 weeks tomorrow in the NICU

Spa Day

Well Little Miss got her first soak in the tube :) She loved it!! She was wide awake and just layed there. I didnt know how she would do, but she did awesome! We got it on video to always watch!! YAY! Other than that no new news. She is still doing well!! All of everyones prayers are being answered. We are so grateful she is doing this well and keeps climbing. She truly is a fighter. She has shown us all how much she is determined!!

Ayden has a friend....

So it was an exhausting day! I spent about 8 hours in Brielles room today. She was supposed to get extubated today (get her breathing tube out and on Vapo) but she was breathing but not enough to stay on it. So they tried the CPAP again which can give her some breaths but she still just wasnt coming around. She was at 100% oxygen which we dont like to see so they ended up intubating her again so her lungs didnt collapse. She had a VERY long stressful day and is pretty tired! 2 big dirty full diapers in a row! She lost 10g today so maybe thats how lol. She is out growing her preemie diapers so she will be graduating to alittle bigger diaper since she keeps filling the little ones. Talk with the Dr. today regarding her cranial u/s she had this morning and they did have one more small cyst pop up. The one from last friday is still the same size (9mm) and this one is 2mm. Both on the right side. Hoping no more pop up!!

Daddy was holding Bri the other day and commented that she stinked. So turns out she didnt get a bath for awhile when she was sick. Tonight Josh was telling the nurse the story and Brielle stuck out her little famous finger right at Josh and held it there til I got out the camera to prove it, and then was quick to drop her little hand. BUT I got nurse Laura as a witness! hehe Possibly giving her a spa day tomorrow in the tub (well the pink little cleaning bucket)

Lots of prayers for Nikki, Mark, Gavin & collin- A mom & dad of a full term baby had to make the decision to pull life support off their baby that was very ill. It was so heart breaking! Brought back some memories of Ayden and how we felt the night before when the Dr was telling us both of their chances and also the night we went in and they told us we probably wouldnt walk out with any babies. It was so heart wrenching to see a couple go thru that! I wanted to see if she needed someone to talk to since we had just lost a baby. She wanted us to meet little Collin so we went in. He was beautiful! Looked peaceful. We told him that he needed to go find Ayden when he got to Heaven and play and look over their brother and sister! Mom and Dad will always love that little guy as we will always love Ayden. The pain will go away but the memory will never die!

Dang, Almost hit Daddy!

Bummer! Daddy laughs and thinks its sooo funny I almost got pooed on twice and puked on once, well tonight daddy almost got pooped on!! HAHA Go Bri! Whos laughing now?!? hehe He managed to catch it with the wipe tho. Guess all that baseball as a kid payed off in the long run. Little Miss now weighs 2 lbs 6.1 oz. Almost up a full pound! They are giving her steroids tonight in hopes to take out her vent tomorrow and get any swelling down if there is any. YAY!! She is in the 30%-40% oxygen, but they decreased her vent settings so she is breathing more on her own and working harder. So far so good! Still trying to talk around her vent! She wants it out! I cant wait to hear my baby cry again! Then when she cries I will try to stop her. Its a vicious cycle of love!!

Puke everywhere!

Well Little Miss is being held by her Daddy right now :) Love seeing Daddy hold his little girl, makes me happy! She is growing!! She is 2lbs 5 oz. She is now in clothes as everyone seen, and they make her look like such a big girl! Every nurse this morning said she is getting to be such a good girl! She is also breathing around her vent tube since shes getting bigger!! Dr. Katie doesnt want to switch her to a bigger tube since she is hoping to switch her to vapo therm in a few days. So mean while we get to listen to her making cute little noises as we hold her! She almost sounds like a dolphin squeaking. Its just too cute!

Got her back in bed, and in her cute little lady bug jammas, and she pukes everywhere!!! All down her back and side. hehe. Daddy was alittle gagged out on it. lol So me and Tracey are trying to change her clothes and Tracey feels her poop in her hand! lol No wonder she was so fussy! lol I feel like she has a poopy diaper every change! Thats good tho!!! Its all moving!

Another Good day!

Another good day ahead of little Miss. BUT there are now 2 Brielles up there and a Briella. Thought we had a one of a kind name, apparently everyone else thought the same. Anyways, She has no lines anymore!!!! So Kathy said we might get to give her a tubby!!!! She was in one of my favorite outfits this morning, from Grandma Cindys friend at work. She looks so different with clothes on and like a big girl!! I love it!! Held her for about 2 hours this morning with minimal desats. Very good!! Brielle is more and more awake everyday!! Love the sight of her big beautiful eyes!! They are getting quite a bit out of her while suctioning her lungs which is great! Dr. Katie showed us her lung xray and it is looking much better!! Things are looking up! Almost go pooped on again this morning but Kathy seen it and covered the little butt back up! hehe Shes a good pooper!

Good Day

Sooooo.....Hmmmm......I got puked on this morning! Another first. She is getting her picc line out today!!! NO MORE INFECTIONS!!!! Thats our goal now!! Cross your fingers, eyes, toes, hands and feets everyone! She is getting another blood transfusion however today before they take the line out. She is still in little clothes that dont fit her. But she is O so cute!! Looks like a little doll now. O and she is weaning off her vent!! So Dr. Katie is hoping we can get her back on the CPAP maching this week!!! YAY! That is about all thats new for today. Laying pretty low. Which is okay with us!!

A DAY OF FIRSTS

So today was the first day we got to dress Brielle!!!! And I think mommy was way more excited than Brielle was! hehe. I've been waiting for this day for along time!! (4 weeks and 6 days to be exact) She did very well with it, and I think she liked the feeling of being contained, since the nurses focus on that, instead of her hands flying all over. Like Sherry said, she is supposed to be tight inside me yet and sometimes they dont know what to do, so maybe the clothes will help. The Preemie clothes are of course still big on her! But really just wide, the length is pretty good on her!! O and Mommy got pooped on for the first time today!! And todays the first day me and daddy both will get to hold her!! Lots of firsts!! Still along ways to go til she comes home and more firsts to come, but we are excited she gets to put on clothes!!!! I posted her first pic to the right!!

O, I'm sure you all want the update...Almost forgot, I was too excited!!! She is 2lbs 4 oz today. She is doing awesome on her Os. She was at 33% when we got there this morning. All her IVs are out!!!!! No more antibiotics. She is getting her caffeine orally now, thru her feeding tube. She is up to 19ML of food!! She is out growing her breathing tube, coughing around it, so they were talking about putting in a bigger tube. All and all a very good rainy day!!!!

Happy 4th of July

Brielle is doing very well today! She was at about 50% oxygen when we went this morning and I got to hold her! She was down to 37% when we left!! The Kangarooing is helping us all I think! We were given the OK to hold her twice a day now, as long as she keeps having good days like today. So Tomorrow we are going to try to space out our times and both hold her! No more sharing our daughter! Not that we dont want to show Brielle how to share or anything. hehe we just both want to snuggle her all day! And who wouldnt?!?

Good end to 4th of July!

YAY!! We just called to check on little Miss & she is at 29% oxygen!!!! We breath 21% so shes sooo close to room air! This morning she was at 70%! Just shows how fast a report can change! Josh held her this morning and she did go down in her oxygen some. She started at 65% and was down to 57% when we left. Nurse Barb thought maybe kangarooing helped her sats come down and helped get quite a bit suctioned out of her lungs which helps the sats too. Me and Josh got the boat out for the first time this afternoon for a few hours. We felt guilty as heck going and having fun, but obviously it was okay. She is doing better than we ever expected on her oxygen!! Maybe its Bris way of telling mom and dad its okay to have fun once in awhile.

Well little miss had her routine one month cranial ultrasound which showed a cyst on her right side of her brain. They will be doing another u/s in a week to see if anymore grow. Say extra prayers none do!!! The effects of this cyst & more are cerebral palsy. So far the one she has is 1cm, fairly large but one is better than more. If one grows on her left side, her chances of cp are very high. Right now she could rewire her brain & have no effects. Thats what I'm hanging on to. Shes a fighter & has overcome quite a bit so far! We are hoping she fights this one too!

2nd day of holding again!

So not much to report today, which is a GREAT thing! obviously we want her to do better but we will take staying even right now too vs. going backwards!! Daddy is holding little miss right now as we speak! Good start to his month and long weekend!! Got some very sweet blankets from Dee christensen! Thank you so much!!! One for ayden and one for Brielle. Pics of Brielles to come! She weighs 2 lbs 1.5oz today! Go Bri! Atleast she didnt dip below the 2lbs mark!! 2 more months to go....