Milestones

Wow! What a day! We weighed in at 4lb 1oz, we have gone to bottle feeding everyother feed, eating 36ml and we got moved to a big girl crib! We are well on our way to coming home. Mom and Dad better get busy on that room!

We've been focusing on getting there rest of the house finished so now we are feeling a little pressed to get the nursery done, but it will all be fine. She at least has a bed to sleep in and beautiful bedding to go with it. The bedding that Melinda has made is absolutely fabulous! I'll take a picture for the next post.

New Pictures

After my last post I went up to feed Bella her 3:00 feeding and decided I couldn't have a day's post that didn't have pictures so here are some I took.

Also, she took 27ml at her feeding! That's the most, by far, we've been able to get her to take since we went to 3 bottle feeds a day. Right when I would think she was finished she'd start rooting around for more. She even woke herself up when it was time to eat!

No New Pictures

Sorry, I don't have any new pictures, but I can tell you that we are now 3lb 9oz! We're getting to be quite a "big" little girl! :)

Feedings are going well according to the doctor, Bella is eating about 20ml of her 32ml three times a day. She was eating all 32 when it was twice a day, but the doctor said it was like working out we want to push her as far as she can go so she can build up to the final goal. They have also started introducing formula to her and she does NOT like it!! They were giving her the formula every other feeding, but she just let it drool out of her mouth and wasn't swallowing much so now they are mixing the donor breast milk and the formula every time and that seems to be better, but she's still not thrilled.

Mom and Dad are good, but tired from the big move this last weekend. We still have a few things to finish up at the camp, but for the most part we are completely moved into the new house. Grant of course has all of his stuff unpacked and organized. I on the other hand have quite a few piles to find a place for, but I'll get there. I can't imagine trying to do all this with Bella home!

Back and Forth and Lots of Help

It seems that we make head way in some areas and then have little set backs in others. Last night Bella weighed 3lb 7oz, but tonight she weighed 3lb 5oz. Last night she was taking 30ml at every feeding with 2 of those feeds being with a bottle. Today they increased her bottle feeding to 3 times a day. She has grown to 17in. from the 15in she was when she was born.

In the mean time we have moved into our new house thanks to our AMAZING family and friends! We are mostly unpacked just waiting on me to sift through my stuff and find places for it all. While Gran Harris was making our house beautiful Grandpa Garvin was happy as a clam setting up the furniture for the nursery and hanging the beautiful clothes we have been given.

Both Gran and Grandpa always make time to ooh and aah over our Lady Isabella. Don't they look so content?! Bella does too! :)

Life is Crazy!

Wow! Could life get any crazier?! Bella is doing great! She's up to 3lb 4oz. She gained 3oz in a day! She is also trying to bottle feed twice a day. Some feedings are more successful than others. This A.M. all I could get her to take was 10ml. Tonight she took 29ml of her 30ml.

They will be screening her for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). They say that if a baby is born prematurely, the normal blood vessels in the retina continue to grow but they do not grow in a normal way. They become very large and easy to break and bleed. This would cause heavy scar tissue to grow and it pulls the retina away from the back of the eye. Let me stress that they are simply screening her for this they do not think she will have a problem.

To add to the craziness we are moving the rest of our stuff into the new house. We are definitely going to have to down size our stuff!

Enjoy the pics!

So Much to Tell

So much has been happening I have been falling behind on my posts! First info on Bella...We have actually met the 3lb mark she is now 3lb and 1oz and 41 cm long (haven't converted that to inches yet). She is taking one bottle feed a day. Monday when we tried it she probably spit out as much as she got in, but yesterday she took in 22 ml and it all went down. Now they will gradually increase her bottle feeds until she is being totally fed by bottle. The reason they don't want to go to it completely right now is that they don't want her to loose too many calories trying to eat.

Bella is also wearing clothes now as you can see in some of the pictures. They have adjusted her bed so that it keeps a constant temperature and her body is supposed to regulate itself. So far she's doing well. I had to laugh at the Cook Children's t-shirt on her. That is a normal newborn size t-shirt and as you can see it swallows her up. The Preemie clothes work better, but even they can be a little big at times.

In addition to all of the Bella news we have great news on the house. The floors are in and we moved in our bedroom furniture so we slept in our new house for the first time last night! Yippee!!!! We also have a lot of our kitchen stuff, but I'm procrastinating on putting in the shelf paper. :)

Milestones

Bella has reached some important milestones. Friday we finally got her to start sucking on a pacifier while she was feeding to simulate drinking from a bottle. She's still not bottle ready, but this is a good sign that we are on our way. Then last night we found out she has finally reached the 3lb mark! Yippee! I don't think there is a set weight that she has to hit before she goes home, but this is definately heading in the right direction.

We are so amazed at how well Bella is able to tune out the distractions around her. There is always a baby crying or an alarm going off, but she just sleeps right through it like it's nothing. Even out of her Giraffe bed. She is not going to be able to sleep in her quiet room, we are going to have to play some cds or something to make a little noise for her.

Holding Steady

Not much to report today. Bella's weight has gone down a bit (1-oz so she's now only at her birth weight 2lb 13oz.) so the nurses and the weekend doctor are saying that they only want us to hold her an hour at a time and then put her back in her bed for at least 30 min. to warm her up. They think she might be using some of her calories to keep warm. Grant and I didn't really think we were holding her very much or enough to let her get cold, but whatever it takes to get her big and strong so we can take her home.

As for the house, they floors are continuing to be put in. The living room, dining area and kitchen are all done as well as the master bedroom. We are putting in dark wood laminate. They look beautiful!

If you want to see a short video on the NICU at the hospital where Bella is receiving excellent care go to the following link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZT-mnCzTvc

Gran

We want to make sure not to neglect our thanks for Gran (Grant's mom). She has been beating down the road between Brownwood, Glen Rose, and Fort Worth to take care of us all. She has been a lifesaver, packing up our house while also making trips to Fort Worth to see Bella. Here is a sweet picture of the two together. Thank you Gran!

Funny Story

Bella continues to improve, her weight was up to 2lb 14oz tonight. That's above her birth weight, but they said she might loose some of that.

Also tonight the nurse was going to let us give Bella a bath so he got all the blankets and towels laid out, got the water ready and was warming the soap. Grant's and my job was to change Bella's dirty diaper. I managed to get the diaper off without getting her heels stuck in it which is quite a feat with how much she likes to wiggle and stretch. Right as I finished wiping her and took the soiled diaper away she just explodes with more poop. I didn't know that a sound that big or a blob of poop that big could come out of someone so small! Grant and I started laughing so hard we could hardly get her cleaned up again. Of course with these little ones everything is a celebration so she was congratulated quite hardly by us.

Today's second picture is to try and show you how big Bella's diapers are on her. She is in between the teeny tiny diapers and the regular preemie diapers so we have to make do with the bigger diapers.

Movin' on Up!

Great news today, Bella has been moved to the NPCU (Neonatal Progressive Care Unit). This is the next step to going home. Babies are sent to the NPCU to grow, gain strength and learn so they can go home. The doctors continue to be impressed by her progress.

Some other great news from the day is that Grant and I are finally new homeowners! We FINALLY closed on our house today. Nothing like changing everything in your life at once.

We can't thank you enough for all of your prayers, love and support. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful circle of family and friends! You are truly appreciated.

Greetings:

Robyn and I went to visit Lady Isabella today and enjoyed the visit.
Sunday while I was visiting I got to meet and have a conversation with Isabella’s Doctor. She told me that with her growth she may need supplement to keep up weight gain. She told me that it is not uncommon to add supplement to the milk to add calories for this additional weight gain. Breast milk is usually around 22 calories per oz and they might add a couple of calories per oz to help her gain weight.

Isabella had another good day her weight held steady and she had no residuals so the doctor ordered that her volume be increased to 24 ml and that she be supplemented by 2 calories per oz. This was started with her first feeding today. Now that her volume is over 10 ml she is fed using a pump that controls the amount and the flow of milk. She continues to really enjoy the marsupial interaction with mother but still loves to have at least one hand free and clear.
Lady Isabella has also graduated to a larger diaper size which provided a bit of levity as Robyn made a change just prior to departure and the diaper came half way up her back. She also did not seem to react as bad to having her temperature taken.
Thank you for all your prayers.

Grandpa Jim

What a Blessing

Bella has been doing great the last couple of days. Her weight has gone up almost to her birth weight and they have increased her feedings to 22 ml and are planning on continuing to increase a couple of ml a day for as long as there is very little to nothing left in her stomach after each feeding. Of course all the nurses are in love with Bella and we are all so proud of her progress. All is well as we continue to pack and we thank our awesome family and friends for their prayerful support and helpfulness. You are deeply appreciated!

Great Day

Today has been a great day for us all! My blood pressure is back to normal, Grant did a final walk through of the house and everything seems to be ready for us to close next week and Bella is being a little star!

When we went to see Bella this AM her doctor was there and said that she was doing great. They have had to reset her oxygen parameters because her oxygen saturation has been so high, even with out the Bubble C-Pap, it was setting off the alarms. They have increased her feedings to 16 cc which will help her continue to gain weight and so she can come off of her TPN which are additional suppliments. She has gained another 1/4 of a oz so now she weighs 2lbs 10oz. An ultrasound was done yesterday to see if there was any blood in the fluid around her brain which would mean possible developmental delays, but everything came back clear. Praise God!

Thank you everyone for all of your prayers and support. We could not have made it through this time without all of you!

God is Good

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, God proves our inability to imagine how wonderful “HE” is.

I brought Bekah to Robyn’s this morning and we all headed over to Cook Children’s to spend time with Lady Isabella. Robyn and Rebekah went in first while I waited quite content to just be there and know everyone was doing so well. Robyn’s swelling has gone down more and she just looked and sounded so much more like her old self. Bekah got a chance to hold Isabella for a few minutes. After about an hour or so Bekah came out and I went in to see her. Isabella was resting quietly in mom’s arms and seemed quite content.

Nurses advised us that Isabella gained ¾ of an oz in the last 24 hours. Robyn asked if I would like to hold her and you know how much I like to be in service to my daughter so I agreed. As I held Lady Isabella she seemed to fit just right. While I was holding her the nurse said it was feeding time, believe me I offered to let Robyn have her but she said I could feed her this time. They checked and determined that there was less than ½ cc of residual in her stomach from the last feeding of 10 cc, so although I fed her 10 cc they said they will be raising her input to 13 cc soon. They attached a 10 cc syringe to her feeding tube and pulled out the plunger so the milk just gravity fed into her stomach. She took the food at about a half cc per minute, and it was really awesome. As she fed she burrowed her nose into my chest and was even more still.
Just as she was finished with the milk the doctor came to check her over. She smiled through the whole process saying Isabella’s heart and lungs sounded great. She checked her stomach and poked and prodded her all over which Isabella did not care for, but when it was over she was soon resting quietly again.

Then Robyn loaded her Kangaroo style and held her for a while longer until Robyn’s stomach started to rumble. We put Isabella back to bed and headed to get lunch for Robyn and put her to bed for a nap.

God is good all the time, all the time God is Good, For that is the nature of God.

Blessing to you all for your continued prayers.

Grandpa Jim