Day 63 in the NICU- October 31, 2012

Avery's 1st Halloween!

 

Avery had a good day. I asked the nurse about what needs to happen in order for Avery to get off the cpap. I don't really know what it means but she is at a setting of 4 right now. She needs to be at a 3 in order for her to come off of it. They tried her at a 3 a few days ago and she didn't like it so they put her back to 4. She is also heavy enough to be in an open crib (she needs to weigh 1600 grams) but they won't put her in an open crib when on cpap. This is because there is nothing to hold her cpap tubes in an open crib like in her isolette. She is still 3 lbs 8oz today.

 

 

Happy Halloween everyone! Thanks Luke for my outfit!

 

Some ladies at a church around here knitted Candy Corn hats for all of us here in the NICU:-)

Mommy got to hold me today and it wasn't kangarooing. She liked holding me this way because then she was able to look at me the whole time. I really enjoyed it too. I was really good for the 1 hour and 15 minutes she held me.

 

Day 62 in the NICU- October 30, 2012

Avery is two months old today!

Since Avery is two months old, that means Tim and I have been driving to Hillcrest every day for two long months. People ask us how we do it. I don't really have an answer besides that it's just something that I feel like I need to do. Even just getting to see her for a few minutes during lunch makes my day.

Avery had one brady today and came right out of it. She still has her cpap on :-( She is gaining weight though. She is now 1610 grams or 3 1/2 pounds! The nurses say the past few days have been really good for her.

I am one day early and dressed up as a cheetah for Halloween.

When are they going to get this cpap off of me??

Day 61 in the NICU- October 29, 2012

Avery had a good day today. Only one apnea so far and no bradys as of this afternoon. They decreased the settings on her cpap so now she is even closer to switching to a nasal cannula. I can't wait for her to get the cpap off. She is going to love feeling so free. They stopped giving her the EPO injections. They said her red blood count is good. Her weight remained at 3lbs 4 oz.

My cheeks are getting big but my arms are still little!

 

Holding Mommy's finger

 

Holding Mommy's hand

Day 60 in the NICU- October 28, 2012

Avery had a great day today. She had one brady over night during hands on but they don't normally count the ones during hands on. She also had one apnea today. I went and visited her this afternoon and left around 1:45 and she still hadn't had a brady. They increased her feeds to 27ml every 3 hours. They said they are most likely going to take her off the cpap and change her to the nasal cannula tomorrow. Once they do that, we can start trying to bottle feed her. They also said that possibly soon she will be taken out of the isolette and in an open crib!

I am surprising Mommy and Daddy everyday with how much progress I am making. I can't wait until I am in an open crib and then they can hold me whenever they want. Right now it's difficult for them because they can only hold me at 2pm or 8pm.

 

Mommy's friend Tina made this quilt for me. I can't wait to see it in real life. It is so cute!

Day 59 in the NICU- October 27, 2012

Avery had a pretty good day again. She had a few bradys earlier in the day. She was looking really chunky when we went to see her and that is because she is now 3 lbs 4 oz! Her feedings have remained the same at 25ml every 3 hours. We had another shower today. Thank you to my mom and sister for all of their help! We had a great time.

 

Hmmmm, does this onsie make me look fat?

 

Since I can't walk or dance yet, I figured I would work on my Latina moves. Can someone say, La Cucaracha?

 

This is Mommy and my cousin, Kaitlin. I heard Kaitlin can't wait to meet me.

 

This is Mommy, Aunt Janet, Grandma, Kaitlin and Daddy at the shower today.

Day 58 in the NICU- October 26, 2012

Avery had a good day but a difficult evening. She was very fussy when I got there and wouldn't stop moving around. She cried and whined for a good 20 minutes when I first got there. The nurse tried everything from changing her cpap prongs to the mask, putting her on her side, putting her on her other side, changing her diaper and finally putting her on her stomach to calm her down. Later they weighed her and she weighed 1400 grams, which is about 3lbs 1 oz. I like to think she lost weight because she burned so many calories when she was upset. They are feeding her 25ml every 3 hours and she is still getting the EPO injections on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

I decided to be a little festive and wear some orange today. Again, it coordinates with my hair color.

 

 I am sticking my tongue out at the respiratory therapist, showing them that I can do well without my cpap on.

 

Now I am all tucked in for the night. Mommy decided it was probably best not to kangaroo with me tonight and let me chill out. She will kangaroo with me tomorrow and then she can tell me all about the shower and all the neat things people got for little ol' me.

Day 57 in the NICU- October 25, 2012

Avery is 8 weeks old today!

 

Avery had a pretty good day. She had a few bradys but she came right out of them on her own. She is still gaining weight and is now 3 pounds 3 oz. A few days ago the nurse and I were talking about pictures and she had a suggestion of me bringing in a disposable camera and leaving it there. When Avery does something cute (which is always!) the nurses can take a picture so we don't miss anything while we are away from her. I am going to bring in the camera tomorrow. I can't wait to see the pictures we will get. I am also going to take in some clothes for Avery. The nurse said they can't guarantee they won't get lost but I will give them a list of what we bring in. We received so many cute outfits and I can't wait for her to wear them!

 

I didn't want to show my face today but I did want to show off my meaty arms!

 

Day 56 in the NICU- October 24, 2012

Avery had a lot of exciting things happen recently. Someone is now 3 pounds! She was 3 pounds 1 oz tonight. She is doing well on her cpap. Her feedings were changed to every 3 hours. She also had another eye exam today. They said her eyes are still premature (which they expected) and she will have another eye exam in 2 weeks. She got a bath for the first time yesterday. Today was the first day she got to wear clothes. I came in and saw her in the outfit below!

 

I'm good at color coordinating. My outfit matches my hair color.

 

After hands on, I put on my party dress. It's actually a shirt but was so long, they decided I didn't need pants.

Day 55 in the NICU- October 23, 2012

Avery had a pretty good day. She had two bradys last night and two as of 1pm. She is now on regular cpap instead of the biphasic/sipap. She is one step closer to the the nasal cannula. Once she gets on the nasal cannula, we can start trying to bottle feed her. That should be very fun and interesting with her cleft palate. She is still gaining weight and is now 2 pounds 14.2 oz. Pretty soon my girl is going to be 3 pounds!

Mommy wasn't able to get very good pictures of me today because this is how I slept the whole time she was visiting. She didn't want to disturb me. I am holding my cpap, what a surprise.

Mommy, being the frugal shopper that she is, found me a whole bedroom set for the price of a dresser yesterday. She told me she can't wait to put my nursery together.

I can't wait to sleep in this bed when I get older!

Day 54 in the NICU- October 22, 2012

Avery, being the feisty girl that she is, decided to pull out her feeding tube today so she got a new one. She is still getting 15ml every two hours. As of 8pm, she only has had two bradys so far which is great for her. Since Avery grew out of her blood pressure cuff and her hat that attaches to her cpap, they gave them to us to take home as a souvenir. I showed them to Scarlett and she was very interested and started licking them. Hopefully she will behave just as well when Avery finally comes home.

I am so awesome, I can balance my pacifier on my arm to keep it in my mouth.

 

I am getting so big!

Day 53 in the NICU- October 21, 2012

Avery only had one brady and one apnea overnight. She was having a good day until kangarooing. She had a few bradys while kangarooing but they said she hadn't been deep suctioned in awhile so that is probably what caused it. She now weighs 2 pounds 13 oz!! What a chunker!

I am showing off my huge arms!

 

I can't wait till I am allowed to wear cute clothes like this! It will still be a couple weeks because I need to be off the heat from the isolette first.

 

Kangarooing with daddy today.

Day 52 in the NICU- October 20, 2012

There is not much to update. They have increased her feeds to 15 ml. She only had one brady the whole day so far(up until 5pm when I left). She was having quite a few desats. I think it was due to her cpap mask. They put her into the next size up for the hat part of it and its a tad too big. She likes to move around so when she moves her head, the mask moves too and becomes crooked on her head.

We made it to 10000 pages views! Thank you to everyone for continuing to follow Avery's adventure. We appreciate all of your love, support and prayers.

Peek-a-boo! (Mommy took this pic of me at during hands on yesterday)

 

I don't know why but I love holding onto my cpap

Day 51 in the NICU- October 19, 2012

Avery received an EPO injection today. She will get them on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to try to increase her red blood cells. They decreased the rate on her cpap again. She is still getting 14ml for milk/formula but she did have some aspirates today but they didn't hold back any feedings. Tonight she weighed 1220 grams which is about 2 pounds 11oz!

I wanted to stretch out but I didn't want mommy to take a picture of my face.

 

I love holding onto my cpap.

Day 50 in the NICU- October 18, 2012

Avery has been having a very good day today. I went and visited her around 1:00 and she had only had one brady since 7am. They also lowered the rate on her cpap to 15. She has to work harder now to breathe but she has been doing really well so far. She weighed 1150 grams last night and she is still on 14ml of breast milk/formula. They said they will increase the feeding once she gains a little more weight, otherwise her liquid intake would be too much for her to handle.

 

I am all warm and cozy!

 This is a picture of me from the day I was born. I am looking so much better and stronger now.

Day 49 in the NICU- October 17, 2012

Avery had a good day today. She didn't have too many bradys and she got to kangaroo with Tim. Her weight is still 1150 grams. We had our group meeting today and we were the couple who has been there the second longest. The only couple that has been there longer than us had twins and have been there for 58 days. One of their twins is going home Friday. I have mixed feelings about this. It's neat being a pro since we have been there so long and can offer advice to the new parents but it sucks that all of the other babies are going home while we sit and wait. I know our time will come eventually and it will be awesome when it does.

 

I got tired in the middle of turning over so I just decided to stay like this.

 

I wanted to be like the cool kids and see what the planking craze is all about.

Day 48 in the NICU- October 16, 2012

Avery's hematacrit is down to 28, meaning her red blood cells are low. They are going to start her on EPO injections again and increase her iron. Hopefully the EPO injections will work and she won't need another blood transfusion. They also increased her feeds to 14ml every two hours.

I found my fingers again. Instead of just sticking my thumb in my mouth, I decided to see just exactly how many fingers I could fit in there this time.

 

Since I am so good at impressions (remember the Urkel one??) I decided to do my McCaulay Caulkin "Home Alone" impression.

Day 47 in the NICU- October 15, 2012

Avery had another good day. She only had 3 brady's this afternoon. Then Tim and I visited and I stuck the pacifier in her mouth and she had a brady...oops. She typically likes the pacifier a lot.  Her weight increased again..1150 or a little over 2 1/2 pounds! The NICU had a dedication tonight for the remodeling they did a few years ago. If you have never been there, come visit Avery sometime and see how amazing it is. There are 35 private rooms with sound minimizing floors and walls. Each nurse is in charge of two babies. It's pretty awesome. Besides my belly, Avery really couldn't be in a better place.

I'm like Rudolph, only my toe glows instead of my nose. That is my pulse ox monitor which shows how much oxygen I have in my blood.

Here is one of the hallways at the NICU. It's nice that they have sound proof walls/floors. Then I don't hear my neighbors snoring all day and night.

Day 46 in the NICU- October 14, 2012

Avery had a good day today. She didn't have too many bradys. They decreased the rate on her cpap from 30 to 25 so now she has to work more but so far she is doing really well on the new settings.  She gained more weight..she is now 1130 gram (about 2 pounds 7 oz.). I was able to kangaroo with her for almost an hour.

Kangarooing with Mommy.

 

 

 

 I love not having my cpap on.

 

I'm just sitting here, chilllin'..getting chunky.

Day 45 in the NICU- October 13, 2012

Avery had a pretty good day. She had a few B's but less than the past few days. She is currently getting 13ml of milk every two hours. She has gained more weight! She is now 1050 grams (2 pounds 5oz)!

We had our first baby shower today. It was on Tim's side of the family and put on by Tim's sisters, Terri and Cheryl. We had it at Tim's mom's house. Everything was great! We appreciate all of their hard work. It was perfect!

I don't know why Mommy posted this embarassing picture of me.

 I am trying to show off my meaty arms in this picture.

 

This picture includes Aunt Cheryl, Aunt Terri, Grandma, Mommy and Daddy

 

That's my Mommy and Daddy

 

Mommy and Daddy say I am going to be sleeping on that some day. I can't wait, it looks comfy.

 

Day 44 in the NICU- October 12, 2012

We have over 8600 views on the blog! Thanks to everyone who has been following Avery through this adventure. We really appreciate all the love and support.

Avery got to kangaroo with Daddy for about 25 minutes today but had some B's so he decided to put her back. Her weight was 1030 without the mask on so that is a little over 2 pounds 4 oz. Overall, she had a pretty good day today.

Hi everyone, I am 6 weeks old!

 

 

Mommy told me the sky was pretty today. I can't see it yet but one day I will be able to!