This weekend, Josh and I had the pleasure of adding 3 more kids to the house! We took our nephews who are 8, 4, and 2 plus our 7 month old. We took them bowling and then to McDonalds play land, then played hide and seek and watched a movie! It was a pretty good time! Sunday however, I tried to put Eli (2) down for a nap. He wasnt having it. When I went back in the room he had pulled off his diaper and pooped all over our bed. What a mess!!!!! But all in all we had fun with our nephews and would probably tempt it again....someday!
Yesterday Speech therapy and occupational therapy came to the house to see Brielle for the first time! Speech wants us to start her on oatmeal 2x a day next week as she is on right before bed right now since last Wednesday. She is taking it pretty well! Each day she is getting the hang of it more and more. Then in about a month we can start to introduce fruits and vegetables, which ever we prefer first. Brielle sucks her tongue and Speech seen her doing that but they said because she doesnt take a pacifier thats her way of calming herself. She will grow out of it. They also gave me a tip. When she eats the cereal she pushes most of it out with her tongue so they told us to push her tongue down with the spoon instead of putting the cereal on her top gum. Pushing the tongue down creates a swollwing effect to make her swollow. Did not know that! She also gave me some different textured finger brush and tooth brush to rub in her mouth to get her used to different textures.
Occupational therapist seen the same worry as me. She favors her left side. She always reaches with her left hand for objects and her right follows slowly behind it. So she recommended that we kind of "hold" down her left and make her reach with her right. I did that yesterday and she did fairly well with it. Also when we are playing or talking to hold her in our right arm instead of our left like we are accustomed to. This kind of holds her left arm into us and forces her to use the right arm more dominantly. Other than that she gave me lots of good compliments on everything we have been doing with her and said she is looking really good! YAY!
Brielle is getting more and more fun as the days go on! Dad takes his finger and she makes the little noises while he taps his finger against her mouth. She is gigglying and smiling sooo easily! I lay her down and take her blanket and tuck her in so to speak and gently roll her to side to side and she just giggles! I LOVE IT! Shes come sooo far and we couldnt be happier how she is progressing into a little person! She has such a personality already!
Ticker
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Follow Up Clinic
We have been pretty busy this week! Monday we were supposed to have speech therapy and occupational therapy come, but with all the snow, they called and cancelled. Tuesday was my appt, and today was the busiest! We went in the morning to see a group of ladies at Joshs grandmas church who have been praying for Brielle since she was born. I made them a poster with some pictures of Brielle from 5 days old to now. I brought in some books I've made her and brought that little white Prom dress she wore O so long again (okay not really that long but it sure feels like it!) When you see how little that dress is and how big she now is, Im not gonna lie, I had tears! The group of ladies were so happy to see her! One even cried and had to walk away to regroup. Happy tears, Im sure! It was so nice to see them!!! Our next stop was off to the birth center that I spent 4 weeks of my life at incubating my babies! It was nice to see those faces as well! They were low staffed so there werent many there, but Im glad to see who I did!! Then we went back down to the 2nd floor to her NICU follow up with Ann Christensen! She is such a sweetheart! Speech and occupational therapists were also there. They were more than pleases with her!! They give her a "report card" I told daddy when he got home that she gets $20 per A. And were going shopping!!!! She got all A's!!
They rate her off her adjusted age which is 4 months. She is 7.5 actual. She weighs 12lbs 11oz and 24" long! Holy moly! She rated in the following categories:
Cognitive (play skills) 4 months
Fine motor 4 months 10 days
Gross motor 5 months
Receptive language (understanding) 4 months 10 days
Expressive language (talking) 5 months.
So to sum it up...Shes doing amazing! So amazing they dont want to see her back :) Only because we have birth to 3 coming to the house and they monitor all that they do so theres no need to repeat it. But we will be going back to visit for sure!!
They rate her off her adjusted age which is 4 months. She is 7.5 actual. She weighs 12lbs 11oz and 24" long! Holy moly! She rated in the following categories:
Cognitive (play skills) 4 months
Fine motor 4 months 10 days
Gross motor 5 months
Receptive language (understanding) 4 months 10 days
Expressive language (talking) 5 months.
So to sum it up...Shes doing amazing! So amazing they dont want to see her back :) Only because we have birth to 3 coming to the house and they monitor all that they do so theres no need to repeat it. But we will be going back to visit for sure!!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Growing baby!
Not much to post this week. Its been pretty low key since all of us have been sick. Dad got it last weekend then mom on Wednesday and Brielle on Friday. Ive been an OCD with the sanitizer and vicks. We blocked off our living room and have the vaporizer running and we are all camped out. We put baby vicks on the bottom of Brielles feet with socks on and that seemed to help!! If the congestion would go away Id be great!!
This next week is busy! We have the occupational therapist and the speech therapist coming tomorrow late afternoon. Tuesday I have a follow up appointment. And Wednesday we are going to Joshs grandmas cousins church to meet with a group of ladies that have been praying for Bri since she was born and want to meet her. I wish we could meet everyone that has been praying and thinking about our family, but that is unfortunately impossible. Someday maybe we will have a good chunk under our belt tho! Then after we meet those kind ladies we go to the NICU at 2pm for her developmental follow up!! I am WAY excited to stop up in the NICU after we are done there!! I miss all the nurses! Im glad to be out of there, but I wish I could have brought them all with me!!
Brielle is growing up so fast!! She was 12lbs 3oz last Wednesday. She has 2 top and 2 bottom little bugger teeth that are trying to pop! And she is NOT happy about it!! And she voices her opinion!! Her best friend is her fist! She often tries to put both fists in her mouth! Its actually pretty comical! She has realized she has a voice and she uses it! She will yell and talk and coo. Its adorable! This morning I just got out of the shower before going to work and shes in her bassinet just yacking away. I just had to smile. She didnt cry at all, just instantly started talking. Maybe to her brother. She is mocking noises. My dad was just over and playing on the floor with her and he would make a noise and she would growl back at him trying to mimick it. It was adorable. She is getting to be a wiggle worm! Josh put her on the floor today and she was doing circles. She wiggles her way off the pillow we put her on. We put her in the middle of her bassinet and every time we go back to get her she is at the very top of her bed. The smiles are still as endless as ever. Its hard to have a bad day when you just look at her and she smiles at you! It lights up our lives! She is my world. I thought I knew what love was, but I dont think I truly understood until my child came into my life! This is a whole new level of love!!
This next week is busy! We have the occupational therapist and the speech therapist coming tomorrow late afternoon. Tuesday I have a follow up appointment. And Wednesday we are going to Joshs grandmas cousins church to meet with a group of ladies that have been praying for Bri since she was born and want to meet her. I wish we could meet everyone that has been praying and thinking about our family, but that is unfortunately impossible. Someday maybe we will have a good chunk under our belt tho! Then after we meet those kind ladies we go to the NICU at 2pm for her developmental follow up!! I am WAY excited to stop up in the NICU after we are done there!! I miss all the nurses! Im glad to be out of there, but I wish I could have brought them all with me!!
Brielle is growing up so fast!! She was 12lbs 3oz last Wednesday. She has 2 top and 2 bottom little bugger teeth that are trying to pop! And she is NOT happy about it!! And she voices her opinion!! Her best friend is her fist! She often tries to put both fists in her mouth! Its actually pretty comical! She has realized she has a voice and she uses it! She will yell and talk and coo. Its adorable! This morning I just got out of the shower before going to work and shes in her bassinet just yacking away. I just had to smile. She didnt cry at all, just instantly started talking. Maybe to her brother. She is mocking noises. My dad was just over and playing on the floor with her and he would make a noise and she would growl back at him trying to mimick it. It was adorable. She is getting to be a wiggle worm! Josh put her on the floor today and she was doing circles. She wiggles her way off the pillow we put her on. We put her in the middle of her bassinet and every time we go back to get her she is at the very top of her bed. The smiles are still as endless as ever. Its hard to have a bad day when you just look at her and she smiles at you! It lights up our lives! She is my world. I thought I knew what love was, but I dont think I truly understood until my child came into my life! This is a whole new level of love!!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Raising a preemie baby
Today Birth to 3 came to the house and was very pleased with Little Miss. She was even showing off and rolled over! She was doing good reaching for toys and putting them right in her mouth! She LOVES to stand vs laying down anymore. They wanted to see how she kicked laying on her back but Bri had other plans in mind :P
Brielle reaches more with her left hand vs her right and when she reaches she turns her hand inward kind of crooked. But they are not getting too concerned right now as she is still little and she might just be reaching to be reaching and it could be nothing. But its still something they will continue to monitor. Her legs seemed alittle stiff but she is positive its not muscular stiffness its stubborness stiffness as I call it :P She would rather stand therefore she wasnt being cooperative to let her bicycle her legs. She is talking more and more! They loved to see that!
I started my own facebook page tonight called "raising a preemie baby" if you would like to look it up and join, I'd love to have you share your experiences!! Or look me up on facebook! Amber Peterson! Have lots of pics on there!!
Brielle reaches more with her left hand vs her right and when she reaches she turns her hand inward kind of crooked. But they are not getting too concerned right now as she is still little and she might just be reaching to be reaching and it could be nothing. But its still something they will continue to monitor. Her legs seemed alittle stiff but she is positive its not muscular stiffness its stubborness stiffness as I call it :P She would rather stand therefore she wasnt being cooperative to let her bicycle her legs. She is talking more and more! They loved to see that!
I started my own facebook page tonight called "raising a preemie baby" if you would like to look it up and join, I'd love to have you share your experiences!! Or look me up on facebook! Amber Peterson! Have lots of pics on there!!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Bring on the New Year
We are totally ready to welcome 2011. How bout you? 2010 was quite the year! Starting in February when we found out we were having precious twins! We had longed over a year to get pregnant and after losing our first one at only 6 weeks, this was a miracle in itself. Then, the perfect instant family! A boy and a girl! May, my water broke and put our lives in fear for our babies lives. May 31, our fears came true and we had to say goodbye to our little boy. June our little girl was born miraculously tiny! But a fighter! She fought all the way thru June, July, August and came home September 1st. Encountering so many things that a baby should never ever have to encounter. Defeating the odds. Proving so many people wrong. Putting so many smiles on so many faces. I feel that 2010 has been a bittersweet year. Bitter that we had to lose our baby boy but sweet that we have Brielle. We thank our lucky star (Ayden) every day that we have her. Our situation, although turned out bad, could have been worse. I try to hold my head up high and look at it that way even tho there are days it is hung pretty low.
New Years eve we went to a small get together at a friends and her neighbor, Leslie, was there and asked how old Brielle was and I told her 7 months but 3 months due to being a preemie. Long story short...She had had a 24 weeker 20 years ago. Unfortunately for her, Matthew only made it 3 days. But it was 3 precious days she had with her little angel. She still gets teary eyed 20 years later. It made me realize that times will be tough. But we will get thru. We wont forget Ayden, just as she doesnt forget Matthew. It also made me ever more grateful for technology and the chance Brielle had. Surfactant, a medicine that Brielle had to help her lungs, wasnt on the market yet when Matthew was born. It was still being tested. Not saying that he would have lived if he was given it, but just shows how different it all is. She had pictures she brought over to show me and O man! He looked like Brielle. So small and hairy! Even looking at the bagging they had vs the breathing machines was huge! We always think were alone in this unreal journey & then you meet other people so close to you.
New Years eve we went to a small get together at a friends and her neighbor, Leslie, was there and asked how old Brielle was and I told her 7 months but 3 months due to being a preemie. Long story short...She had had a 24 weeker 20 years ago. Unfortunately for her, Matthew only made it 3 days. But it was 3 precious days she had with her little angel. She still gets teary eyed 20 years later. It made me realize that times will be tough. But we will get thru. We wont forget Ayden, just as she doesnt forget Matthew. It also made me ever more grateful for technology and the chance Brielle had. Surfactant, a medicine that Brielle had to help her lungs, wasnt on the market yet when Matthew was born. It was still being tested. Not saying that he would have lived if he was given it, but just shows how different it all is. She had pictures she brought over to show me and O man! He looked like Brielle. So small and hairy! Even looking at the bagging they had vs the breathing machines was huge! We always think were alone in this unreal journey & then you meet other people so close to you.
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